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Man accused of raping 6 minors brought to Bhopal, will be produced before court on Friday
He had been on the run since Sunday after five of the six girls lodged an FIR against him.
A 68-year-old man, accused of raping six minor girls in Bhopal in the past few years, was brought to the Madhya Pradesh capital on Thursday. He was arrested in Srinagar on Wednesday.
The accused will be produced before a court on Friday, the police said.
He had been on the run since Sunday after five of the six girls lodged an FIR against him. The man was arrested from a hotel in Srinagar with the help of Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“Besides the crime related to rape we are also investigating if he was a part of a drug peddlers’ racket as we have gathered information in this regard,” said a police officer, who is part of the investigation, on cindition of anonymity.
A resident of Shahpura locality in Bhopal, the man runs a small vernacular newspaper and was a state-level state government accredited journalist. He was also allotted a government bungalow which was later cancelled.
Additional Director General (ADG) of Police, Bhopal, Upendra Jain said, “After the incident of rape came to light, he fled to Mumbai in a taxi and later reached Srinagar by a flight via Delhi. Police got the information on Tuesday that he was staying in a hotel in Srinagar.”
“Police are interrogating him to know why did he go to Srinagar and who are the other accomplices in his crime. Two years ago, the police had arrested the friends of his son in connection with drug peddling. Now, police have got information that the rape accused has a strong connection with drug peddlers. We are trying to verify the information,” said Jain.
“Police have also written to Income Tax department and Enforcement directorate as he has amassed huge wealth disproportionate to his source of income,” he added.
Meanwhile, the advocate of the accused claimed that his client was a victim of political conspiracy.
“He was not arrested from Srinagar but fact is he surrendered before the police,” said the lawyer Wahid Khan.
The man’s daughter said, “My father is suffering from prostate cancer and he is being targeted by some politicians. After police had taken the girls to the police station my father had approached the police personnel to prove his innocence but he was not allowed to do so. Had he been an accused in any crime, the police should have arrested him immediately. But it was not done and the entire story was fabricated. Police demolished his legal properties as a part of a conspiracy.”
A joint team of district administration, Bhopal municipal corporation (BMC) and police razed a marriage hall and a three-storey apartment owned by him in the city. The buildings were allegedly built by him illegally on government land, as per administrative authorities.
Notably, the five teenager girls were spotted in an intoxicated state by a police patrol team in Ratibad area in Bhopal in the wee hours on Sunday. During counselling by the Childline, the girls narrated their ordeal about repeated rape with them in the past few years by the accused. Later on Monday, one more minor girl came forward and registered a case of rape against him, said police.
He faces three FIRs lodged with Shahpura, Koh-e-fiza and Shyamla Hills police stations under sections 366 (a) (procuration of minor girls), 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape), 120 b (criminal conspiracy) and sections 5/6 and 14 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Wildlife Protection Act and under relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act, said the DIG of police.
As of now, police have arrested four people including two women, who were working as his aide for luring the girls and shifting them from one place to another, according to police.