24-year-old man held for raping minor girl

A 24-year-old man from Turbhe village who allegedly raped a minor, has been arrested by the police on Friday.

According to the police, the 11-year-old victim stays in the same neighbourhood with her parents as the accused, Bipul Patil. Patil allegedly gaged the girl when she was walking along the road and took her to a construction site around nine days ago and raped her. After committing the crime, he asked the girl not to reveal it to anyone else.

"The victim was too scared to tell her parents about the incident. She started bleeding in the evening and her parents took her to a doctor. The doctor informed the parents that she was raped," said Balkrushna Sawant, police inspector, crime, from APMC police station.

"The victim did not disclose the accused's name for couple of days. We had to be friendly with her. Then one day while playing she pointed out the accused and we picked him up. He was later arrested," he said.

The police have booked the accused under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 4, 6, 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He was produced before the judicial court on Saturday afternoon.

"The accused is jobless. We have not found any criminal record of him so far. Our investigations are on," another police officer from APMC police station said.