Neighbour comes for help

Rajkumari's (name changed) 32-year-old neighbour was taken aback when his friend — who, too wishes to remain anonymous, approached him with a complaint regarding Rajkumari's three children on Thursday evening. Past cases

Rajkumari's (name changed) 32-year-old neighbour was taken aback when his friend — who, too wishes to remain anonymous, approached him with a complaint regarding Rajkumari's three children on Thursday evening.

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"I didn't know how to react. So, I made him take me to her (Rajkumari's) house and asked her to be clearer about the matter. She was hesitant; and just said that some men were doing bad things to her children," said the neighbour.

When he persisted with his questions, the 32-year-old widow finally broke down and related the horrific tale.

"She said that Lalit — whom she hired to pick and drop her three children from their schools in central Delhi — had been raping them with his friends for more than a year. There were five of them who would drug them and ask them to kiss and fondle each other in addition to doing 'other bad things' for the cameras. She discovered it only 25 days back," he said.

"She said, she was afraid for their lives and her own after she'd confronted Lalit on August 23 when he'd come to pick them up for school. He had locked the door to the room that they stay in, made them sit and threatened to kill each one painfully if they told anyone about the incident," he said. Rajkumari had no choice but to follow Lalit's diktat.

"That's why she had stopped sending them to school altogether and locked herself in with them for a week after August 23," the neighbour said.