32-year-old arrested for minor's rape in Wadala

The Wadala TT police on Thursday arrested a 32-year-old man in connection with the rape of a five-year-old at a dumping ground in Sangam Nagar in Antop Hill last week.

According to the police, the accused has been identified as Mohammed Riyaz Ansari, a resident of Tardeo, who worked in a garment factory in Wadala along with the victim's mother. The police working on the information zeroed in on Ansari after they had rounded up 14 workers from the factory.

"The mother would sometime take the girl along with her. Ansari took advantage of the fact that the girl knew him as he would somtime play with her," said an officer.

"We had created a sketch of the accused on the basis of the CCTV footage where Ansari was seen carrying the child. After sustained interrogation, he confessed to his crime."

The case was embroiled in a controversy after policemen from Antop Hill police station and Wadala TT police station behaved insensitively and irresponsibly while handling the case on April 21. API Sanjeev Nimbalkar and ASI Anand Jhavre station were subsequently for wasting precious time in arguing over the jurisdiction of the crime while the victim kept bleeding.

"It was an important case for us and we finally managed to arrest the accused. We are checking his record whether he has any previous case against him", said Ashok Dudhe, DCP Zone IV.