Tempers ran high in Vikhroli after a man was caught red-handed by residents while sexually assaulting a two-year-old girl. Sushant Rambahadur Singh, 23, was beaten up by shocked and outraged residents before being handed over to the police. Officers at Parksite police station, where the offence was registered, said the accused is a resident of the area and had abducted the victim.
According to police sources, Singh, a resident of Vikhroli (East) is currently unemployed. An officer with Parksite police station said, “The accused stays in the same locality as the victim. On Friday night, the victim’s mother was feeding her while sitting outside their house. When she went inside the house to fetch a second helping, the accused made off with the child and took her to a hill behind their locality.”
The mother raised an alarm when she could not find her daughter upon her return. Within half-an-hour, residents formed a large group and fanned out in the area to look for the missing child. Some of them, who went to search on the hill behind their locality, found Singh forcing himself on the child in a forested area on the hill. The accused was taken to Parksite police station, while the victim was taken to her house and reunited with her mother.
After recording statements from the locals who had caught Singh in the act, the police registered a case against him and placed him under arrest. DCP Ashok Dudhe, spokesperson, Mumbai Police, said, “The accused has been booked for kidnapping and rape under the IPC and under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The victim sustained minor injuries but is fine otherwise.”
The incident sparked off outrage in the area, which remained tense through Friday night. Senior police officers, including the divisional Assistant Commissioner of Police and the zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police visited the area and assured residents that the matter was being dealt with in the strictest possible manner. Police were also deployed in the locality and patrolling was stepped up to ensure law and order.
Police are now interrogating the accused to find out if he has tried to exploit the victim earlier, and if he has perpetrated similar crimes by targeted other minors in the locality. They have also appealed to residents to come forward and inform them if they have any such information, and have assured them of anonymity.
