The Kharghar police have arrested the driver of a private van, which ferried students to Ramsheth Thakur School, for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.
The accused, Ashok Ganpat Kamble (28), is a resident of Taloja Phase-I. The victim’s mother had registered a case with the Kharghar police on Wednesday. According to the complaint, the accused had been sexually abusing the child in the bus from August 2018.
Police sub-inspector Nitin Shinde said, “The accused was not the driver of the van in which the victim travelled. After his duty, the accused used to park his van near the school and get into the van the victim took to go home. The victim used to be the last child to be dropped. After all the students left, the accused would sexually abuse her.”
The police said the child told her mother about the abuse, but she did not take it seriously. On March 10, the child told her mother about it again and she informed her class teacher. The mother then registered a police complaint.
The police are investigating if the driver abused other children in his van. The police also interrogated the driver of the van in which the abuse took place. He claimed that he was unaware of the incident as he was at the wheel. The accused has been arrested under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He has been remanded in police custody till Monday.
