As more details of sexual harassment of children emerged from an illegal shelter home at Karjat here on Friday, the investigation has been transferred to the Alibag Crime Branch.
“The regional Inspector-General has been ordered to supervise the investigation personally,” Deven Bharti, Special Inspector-General (Law and Order), told The Hindu on Friday.
The police have also found that Ajit Dabholkar, prime accused and founder of Chandraprabha Charitable Trust, had an extortion case registered against him in Mumbai in 2005. The authenticity of a visiting card which referred to him as a Pune BJP office-bearer is being verified. Four mobile phones, some CDs and a computer have been seized from the trust’s Karjat and Pune premises.
Five more children, including a five-year-old boy, recorded their statements in Pune. At least 10 children have spoken to the investigators of the sexual exploitation and harassment over the past 12 years. They narrated that they were forced to perform sexual acts with the founder of the trust and with each other. These acts were video-recorded and monitored with CCTV cameras installed in various rooms, the children said. “They have also narrated how they were forced to work as construction labourers in the trust building. Some of the children have suffered head injuries while carrying heavy construction material on their heads,” Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe of Childline told The Hindu .
The traumatised children said they were starved if they refused to oblige. Most of the children hail from Pune and come from an impoverished background. The accused had promised them free education and shelter.
After the police seized mobile phones, some CDs, computer and documents from the Karjat shelter home and from the Pune head office of the trust on Friday, they said they will scrutinise the evidence soon. “We will examine the evidence tonight,” Ankush Shinde, Superintendent of Police, Raigad, told The Hindu . The police arrested Ajit Dabholkar and his assistant Lalita Tonde early this week and reopened the case of mysterious deaths of Tonde’s husband and her eight-year-old nephew on the trust premises a few years ago.
“We have found 28 children who resided in the shelter home. We have recorded their statements. We have also made an application before the magistrate today to record their statements again,” Mr. Shinde said. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act and the Indian Penal Code. Meanwhile, taking note of the incident, Maharashtra Department of Women and Child Development has ordered a 15-day drive to register illegal shelter homes in the state. “There will be a crackdown on all the illegal shelter homes after the 15-day drive,” Varsha Gaikwad, State Minister for Women and Child Welfare, told The Hindu .
The Maharashtra State Commission for Women is slated to propose to the Women and Child Development department that only women should be appointed as supervisors in all the shelter homes, hostels, rescue homes, children’s homes in the state. Chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Women Susieben Shah said she will visit the Karjat shelter home on Monday.
The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has directed the Raigad police to send a report. “We will initiate further action after receiving the report from the police,” an official of the commission told The Hindu .
