A serial rapist, who is wanted for sexually assaulting minors in Navi Mumbai, molested a 12-year-old girl in Rabale on Thursday. The police said that the incident was the fifth case of sexual assault against a minor registered against the serial rapist in Navi Mumbai since 2017.
Modus operandi
The police said that the accused approached girls and told them their father had asked them to accompany him. He would then take them to an isolated place and sexually assault them.
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Senior police inspector Sanjay Godse of Rabale police station said, “The suspect went to the victim’s house in Sector 21 in Ghansoli on Thursday at around 8 p.m. The accused told the victim’s mother that her husband had sent him. He told the woman she had to accompany him with the keys of their saloon as a tenant had come to see the place.”
Mr. Godse said that after walking with the woman for a while, he said he had to leave and would return in a few minutes. He then rushed back to the house and told the girl that her mother wanted to meet her. The police officer said that the accused then took the girl to an isolated place.
Mr. Godse said that the accused told the girl that there was an insect on her dress and started undressing her. He said, “When the girl began shouting for help, the accused assaulted and molested her and fled the place.” The girl rushed back home and narrated the entire incident to her mother.
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Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, said, “We have a team working to trace the accused. We have also declared a reward of ₹25,000 to anyone who gives us any information about him.”
The polcie said the accused molested a minor girl in Nerul in April. Last year, he sexually assaulted three girls in Koparkhairane, APMC and Rabale.
A CCTV footage of the accused wearing a blue T-shirt, which was obtained from the crime scene in Koparkhairane, has been identified by all five victims. The accused is also wanted by Thane and Palghar police.