Obscene photographs of women, child pornography and documents on illegally-encroached government land worth crores of rupees were seized by the police in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal during a raid at a flat of a 68-year-old man, who allegedly raped six minor girls, said police.
During the raid at the residence of the accused at Shyamla Hills locality, who has been absconding for the past three days, police found he had encroached upon government land in at least 12 different localities, said an official familiar with the investigation into the case.
“His flat at Shyamla Hills had an interior design like a dance bar that was used for raping the minor girls many times. The flat’s walls were pasted with obscene pictures of women. Police also found stuff related to child pornography. At least 100 Indian made foreign liquor bottles were also seized from the flat,” Sai Krishna Thota, superintendent of police (Bhopal South), said.
A joint team of district administration, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the police on Tuesday also razed a three-storey apartment allegedly illegally built by the rape accused on government land in Budhwara locality, Avinash Lavania, Bhopal district collector said.
The joint team had demolished a marriage hall adjacent to the apartment on Monday. The marriage garden spread over 5000 sq feet was also built illegally on government land. The value of both the properties—the marriage hall and the apartment—is estimated to be more than Rs 5 crore, said an official from BMC.
{{/usCountry}}The joint team had demolished a marriage hall adjacent to the apartment on Monday. The marriage garden spread over 5000 sq feet was also built illegally on government land. The value of both the properties—the marriage hall and the apartment—is estimated to be more than Rs 5 crore, said an official from BMC.
{{/usCountry}}The man, who runs a small vernacular daily, also owns expensive four-wheelers, including an Audi car and a Mitsubishi Pajero. Thota said they have seized both the vehicles.
Bhopal Police also arrested three people from the state capital on Tuesday, including a woman, who is a grandmother of one of the victims and was aware of the rapes. The two others are people who used to lure girls for the main accused.
Sweeti Vishwakarma, who lives in a slum near Shyamla Hills and worked as an assistant to the main accused, was arrested for luring minor girls on Sunday.
Police have also registered an FIR under section 14 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act for child pornography and under the relevant section of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Shyamla Hills and Koh-e-Fiza police stations against the accused, said police.
Earlier, the man was booked under section 366 (a) (procuration of minor girls), 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape), 120 b (criminal conspiracy) and sections 5/6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, according to Irshad Wali, Bhopal’s deputy inspector general (DIG) of police.
“During a counselling session organised by the child welfare committee, two of six minor girls, who lodged the complaint on Monday night, said Pyare Miyan took them as a guardian two years ago by saying that he would take care of their education but later he raped them several times in different places of India including Goa and Indore,” Kripa Shankar Chaubey, a CWC member, said.
“The girls have been shifted to a safe shelter home where their counselling is being done by us,” said Chaubey.
Five teenaged girls were found by a police patrolling team in an intoxicated state in Ratibad area of Bhopal at 3am on Sunday.
The girls said during counselling by Childline that the man used to call them to attend parties and raped them, according to police.