A 56-year-old resident of Dharmaveer Nagar in Thane (West) was arrested on Monday night for allegedly raping a 19-year-old girl.
The accused, Jagdish Viswakarma, had been allegedly raping the girl since April.
Police Inspector Meera Bansode of Kapurbawdi police station said, "The girl has been staying at children’s home in Thane since her parents death. Viswakarma used to visit the place and get sweets for the children."
"Viswakarma had told the institute's management that he would take care of the girl, send her for further studies and get her married," Bansode said adding that some local activists came to know about the crime and brought her to the police station.
The complaint says Viswakarma knew the girl's parents as they were neighbours but the girl says she doesn’t know him.
"I had seen him at the ashram as he would come there once a month with sweets. But I never spoke with him. He promised that he will get me married but started raping me after he took me home," said the victim, who has studied till Class 10.
"His wife, who is alcoholic, would get drunk in the night and sleep off. Viswakarma would then rape me. He threatened me that if I told anyone, he would beat me and throw me out of the house. I tried going back to the ashram but they didn’t take me back," the victim said in her complaint.
{{/usCountry}}"His wife, who is alcoholic, would get drunk in the night and sleep off. Viswakarma would then rape me. He threatened me that if I told anyone, he would beat me and throw me out of the house. I tried going back to the ashram but they didn’t take me back," the victim said in her complaint.
{{/usCountry}}Viswakarma was produced in court on Tuesday and has been remanded in police custody until August 21.
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