Navi Mumbai: Alert citizen helps rescue a minor from rapist

A passer-by helped rescue a five-year-old who had allegedly been kidnapped by a 20-year-old man from Ghansoli and taken to an isolated spot along Palm Beach Road on Saturday night. The police rescued the girl before she was raped and arrested the accused from the spot.

A passer-by helped rescue a five-year-old who had allegedly been kidnapped by a 20-year-old man from Ghansoli and taken to an isolated spot along Palm Beach Road on Saturday night. The police rescued the girl before she was raped and arrested the accused from the spot.

The police said the five-year-old girl lives with her family in Ghansoli. She had come out of her house after dinner, around 10.30pm.

The accused, Rahul Parekar, who was loitering in that area, took her aside on the pretext of giving her a chocolate. He then gagged her and took her to the isolated spot along Palm Beach Road on his two-wheeler. He parked his vehicle along the road and took the girl into the bushes.

“An alert resident of that area, who was passing by, spotted the vehicle there. He got suspicious and informed the nearest police chowky about it,” said an officer from Rabale MIDC police station.

A beat marshal team immediately went to the spot and found the girl near the mangroves along with the accused.

“The accused had removed the girl’s clothes by the time our officers reached the spot. We caught him in time. Both were taken to the police station and we later handed the girl to her parents,” the officer said.

Assistant commissioner of police Arun Walture said, “We will interrogate the accused further and see if we can apply some other sections of the IPC in this case.”