Cops pose as villagers to nab absconding POCSO case accused from Bihar

The DN Nagar police have brought the accused from his native village in Bihar to the city on Tuesday. This was the police team’s third attempt to nab the accused. The accused, Amitkumar Gupta, a native of Darji Bigha, in Gaya district, had escaped twice into a Naxalite zone in nearby jungle when the police had gone looking for him.

MUMBAI: A DN Nagar police team posed as villagers in Bihar and nabbed a 29-year-old man, who had jumped bail after being arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl in the city in 2014.

Cops pose as villagers to nab absconding POCSO case accused from Bihar

The DN Nagar police have brought the accused from his native village in Bihar to the city on Tuesday. This was the police team’s third attempt to nab the accused.

The accused, Amitkumar Gupta, a native of Darji Bigha, in Gaya district, had escaped twice into a Naxalite zone in nearby jungle when the police had gone looking for him.

This prompted the police to go there discreetly and in disguise to nab Gupta in their third attempt, according to DN Nagar police.

In 2014, Gupta was working in a shop in Andheri West when the survivor visited the shop along with her family. Gupta is alleged to have molested her then.

He was booked under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and was arrested for allegedly molesting the minor.

The police said Gupta was in jail for almost six months before he was released on bail in 2014. However, he did not turn up to face the trial and had been absconding since 2017.

“As he lived close to a jungle in a remote village of Gaya district called Darji Bigha, he would go into the Naxalite zone whenever he heard about Mumbai police looking for him,” said an officer from DN Nagar police.

“Since our arrival had alerted him in our previous two attempts, this time we decided to be discreet. Our officers dressed up like local villagers and used two-wheelers instead of police vans,” said the officer.

First, two male officers went on a two-wheeler and carried out a recce of the area around Gupta’s house on Saturday morning. Once they were sure about his presence, the rest of the police team arrived at the place one by one.

“We arrested him on Saturday and brought him back to the city on Tuesday evening. The court sent him to judicial custody on Wednesday morning,” said the officer.

A team led by police sub-inspector Anjali Wani under the guidance of deputy commissioner of police Krishnkant Upadhyay and senior police inspector Milind Kurade was involved in the efforts to arrest Gupta.