Rickshaw driver dies by suicide after wife, daughter files rape complaint

A 40-year-old autorickshaw driver was found dead on railway tracks near Karjat. He died by suicide after his wife filed a police complaint alleging the rape of their minor daughter.

Badlapur: A 40-year-old autorickshaw driver’s body was found on the railway tracks near Karjat. The police suspect he died by suicide hours after he discovered that his wife had filed a police complaint alleging rape of their minor daughter.

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According to police, the 10-year-old girl lived with her father and eight-year-old brother in Badlapur while her mother had been working in Dubai for the last two years. The accused father worked as an auto driver in Badlapur city.

In her statement to the police, the girl, a Class VI student, said her father sexually assaulted her several times during the last six months. Arun Kshirsagar, senior police inspector, Badlapur West police station, “After facing repeated sexual assaults, the girl called her mother in Dubai and said she was sexually molested by her father. The girl’s mother, who works in a private company in Dubai, came to Badlapur and the couple had a fight over this issue. On October 26, the mother along with the girl filed a police complaint.”

Kshirsagar added that the FIR was lodged under IPC sections 376 (Punishment for rape) and sections 3 (Penetrative sexual assault), 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault), and 12 (Punishment for sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offense (POCSO) Act.

Sambhaji Yadav, Senior Police Inspector, Karjat Government Railway Police said, “We received information about a man who committed suicide on October 26 evening and rushed to the spot. We found his body which was run over by the train between Badlapur and Vangani railway stations. We took him to Badlapur Rural Hospital where he was formally declared dead. The body was handed over to family members for final rites after conducting a post-mortem.”