Berhampur: Police Thursday arrested an auto-rickshaw driver on charges of raping a Class VII girl here in Ganjam district.
A case was registered and the accused was produced in court. He was then remanded in judicial custody after the court rejected his bail plea. He has been identified as Babu Sahu (28) of Bada Baazar area in Berhampur.
According to police, the victim resided in the house of her uncle and attended a local school. The accused also stayed in the same locality and had his eyes on the girl. He often followed her and passed lewd comments on her.
As usual, the girl had gone for tuition Wednesday night. Finding her alone on her way back home, the accused gagged her and took to an isolated place where he outraged her modesty. He then threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone and fled.
The girl returned home and narrated her ordeal to family members who lodged a written complaint last night. Acting on the complaint, police swung into action and arrested Sahu.
The girl was sent for medical examination and later handed over to family members. The girl recorded her statement with POCSO court after which Sahu was sent to jail, IIC Suresh Kumar Tripathy said.
Preliminary probe revealed, Sahu is a repeated offender. He has another case of raping a minor against his name in 2015. He had allegedly raped a minor back in 2015 and was serving in jail.
He was recently out on bail and was riding auto-rickshaw for a living, it was learnt.
PNN
