JOIN USThe Chennammanakere Achchukattu police arrested a 52-year-old autorickshaw driver for raping a seven-year-old girl on Friday night. The suspect was identified as Lakshman. A special team picked him up on Saturday from a house in Ramanagar where he was hiding after committing the crime, police said.
The incident occurred at around 7 pm on Friday in Chennammanakere Achchukattu. The victim’s parents own a cloth store in the area and Lakshman stays in the same lane. The victim’s parents had dropped their daughter in their relative’s house in the same locality and had gone outside for some work. The relatives also went outside to a nearby temple and the victim was alone in the house, police said.
Lakshman was heavily drunk and was returning home. He saw the girl and barged inside. He raped the girl and threatened to kill her if she informed anybody, police said.
The girl was lying on the floor when the relatives returned home. They rushed her to a nearby hospital and informed the parents. The doctors, upon medical examination, said that she had been sexually assaulted. The girl later narrated the incident to her family members.
The victim’s parents and the suspect’s family members were trying to evolve a compromise formula in front of the hospital. The patrolling team of the police spotted a large gathering near the hospital and went there. They obtained details from the crowd and the incident came to light, DCP (South) B S Lokesh Kumar told Deccan Herald. The police took a statement from the doctor and booked Lakshman under the Pocso Act. They verified Lakshman’s mobile phone call details and he was found to be moving in Ramanagar. A special team was sent there to arrest him and he was picked up on Saturday, the DCP said. The medical examination conducted on the victim and the suspect established sexual assault, police said.
During interrogation, Lakshman claimed that he felt repentant and went to Ramanagar to kill himself. “I committed a heinous offence under the influence of alcohol. I realised my mistake later,” he told the police. The police produced him before the court and he was remanded in judicial custody.