A teen girl, who travelled alone from Nepal to Mumbai to meet her Instagram friend, was sexually assaulted by him in Maharashtra’s Mumbra region in a rented house on Tuesday.
Afterwards, when the 15-year-old took a local train to Dadar station, co-passengers noticed something was not right with her and took her to the Government Railway Police (GRP), who then admitted her to a hospital, a Times of India report said.
Police tracked down the accused within hours and placed him under arrest.
WHAT HAPPENED
The victim — an Indian living in Nepal with her family — had befriended the 22-year-old accused on Instagram a month ago. They both then exchanged phone numbers and began conversing.
Reportedly, as they grew closer via their conversations, the accused expressed his wish to marry the girl. He asked her to come to Maharashtra to be with him.
The girl’s parents were unware of her online friendship and so when the accused threatened ending his life if the girl didn’t visit him, she decided to travel by herself.
Police said that the teen left her home in the early hours of March 17 and travelled to Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur by bus. From there, she boarded a train and got down at Kalyan early on March 19, where the accused was waiting for her, they added.
He took her to the rented house in Mumbra in an autorickshaw. He constricted her in that house and sexually assaulted her. Later in the day, he dropped the girl off at Diva station with a local train ticket and fled from there.
HOW COPS NABBED THE ACCUSED
The terrified girl boarded a train and alighted at Dadar. “Co-travellers alerted us. After she narrated her ordeal, we rushed her to a public hospital. The doctors said she would have to be admitted and she remains under treatment till date,” Senior Inspector Anil Kadam was quoted as saying by ToI.
The accused had taken away the girl’s phone, but thankfully, she had memorised his contact number, which ultimately enabled the police to track him down within hours.
The police booked the accused under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376 and provisions of the POCSO Act.
Since the victim is a minor, her parents in Nepal were informed and the FIR was submitted to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
According to cops, the 22-year-old accused lives in Mumbai’s Wadala and earns livelihood by doing odd jobs.
The case was transferred to the Mumbra Police in view of the offence having taken place in their jurisdiction.
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