Minor abducted, raped by 24-year-old repeat offender in Wazirpur

Police said the suspect, identified as Salim alias Chhotu, was homeless in Delhi after his escape from custody in Rampur and was employed as a cleaner in factories in Wazirpur Industrial Area.

A 24-year-old man, who was absconding for nearly a year after fleeing custody in a case related to the rape and murder of a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping and raping a nine-year-old girl in a jhuggi near Wazirpur Industrial Area in northwest Delhi on Sunday afternoon.

Police found out about his antecedents after his arrest.

Police said the suspect, identified as Salim alias Chhotu, was homeless in Delhi after his escape from custody in Rampur and was employed as a cleaner in factories in Wazirpur Industrial Area. Police found out about his antecedents after his arrest.

“Salim was in a jail in Rampur, when he was infected by Covid-19 and got admitted to a local hospital. On August 28 last year, Salim fled the hospital after which a separate case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) was registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police. He had been absconding since then,” said deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Usha Rangnani.

According to a senior police officer associated with the case, Salim came across the girl, who was with her parents and two brothers, at a confectionery shop in Shalimar Bagh. He said Salim allegedly lured the girl by promising to buy her new clothes and sweets.

“Salim boarded an e-rickshaw with the girl and took her to a vacant shanty close to the railway tracks in Wazirpur Industrial area. He held her captive for a couple of hours and raped her, after threatening to kill her with a knife... Later, he dropped the girl near her home and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the crime,” the officer said.

Police said the girl, after returning home, was rattled and did not tell anyone about her ordeal despite her parents asking about it. In the evening, the girl complained of pain in the abdomen and was taken to a nearby hospital where the doctor said that she was sexually assaulted and called police.

“We registered a case of kidnapping, rape, and criminal intimidation under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping),376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Shalimar Bagh police station. Counsellors talked to the girl and extracted information about the suspect. However, she was clueless about his identity as she had never met him before. She only remembered the vacant shanty near railway tracks ,” the officer said.

DCP Rangnani said investigators scanned over 200 CCTV cameras to identify the suspect. “He was arrested from Wazirpur Industrial Area on Tuesday,” said the DCP.

The girl’s father works as a truck cleaner and mother is a tuberculosis patient, police said.