Repeat offender held for raping, sodomising minors

Police said they ascertained details about at least four crimes when investigating the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in Rithoj village, Sohna, on April 25

Gurugram

The accused was booked under sections of the Pocso Act. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A 50-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping and sodomising minors across different states over the past 10 years, since he was released from jail after serving a 10-year sentence for raping a five-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh, police said.

Police said they ascertained details about at least four crimes when investigating the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in Rithoj village, Sohna, on April 25. The girl’s mother, in her complaint, said she and her husband work for a contractor and stayed in a room allotted to them in Rithoj.

“The (girl’s) family alleged that on April 25, a person came to work at the contractor’s place and slept outside their room at night. Late in the night, they found their three-year-old daughter and the person sleeping outside the room missing. After looking around all night, they found their daughter in an unconscious state nearly 300 metres away from their room and informed police,” Varun Dhaiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said.

Police identified the accused as Ratan (who goes by a single name), who came from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. There was a reward of ₹50,000 on him since the Rithoj incident and he was arrested by a joint team of the crime unit, Sohna police and Sector 51 women’s police station on Wednesday morning, Dahiya said.

Dahiya said the accused was booked under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. “Raids were conducted in Gurugram, Delhi, Pune, Jhansi and Ratlam, from where he was finally arrested,” he said.

According to police, the accused confessed to having raped the three-year-old girl in Rithoj. Further, he admitted to sodomising a six-year-old boy in Chandla of Madhya Pradesh earlier this year. Police said they are trying to get details of other crimes, which took place in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Police said that after committing a crime, he used to move cities to evade police and took jobs as a labourer to target children. “He was arrested for raping a five-year-old girl in his home town in 2005 and was released from jail in 2015, after serving his sentence. We are contacting other states about the accused and will seek his custody when producing him in a city court,” Dahiya said.