70-year-old arrested for kidnapping, raping 14-year-old girl

MUMBAI: The Wadala Truck Terminal police have arrested a 70-year-old security guard for allegedly kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her in a container in Kanjurmarg on Monday night. The incident came to light when two policemen attached to the Kanjurmarg police station, who were on patrolling duty, suspected something amiss and knocked on the door of the container. The security guard was nabbed from the spot after the girl narrated her ordeal and later handed over to the Wadala TT police, where the crime was registered.
According to the police, the accused, a resident of Wadala, works as security guard in two shifts – at a construction site in Wadala during the day and at the metro 3 site in Kanjurmarg at night. The victim, also a resident of Wadala, is the daughter of a laundry shop owner.
The accused met the victim in Wadala on Monday afternoon. Claiming to be a friend of her father, he offered her a chocolate and made her sit in a taxi, saying he would drop her at her father’s shop. But he took her to the metro 3 site near the Eastern Express Highway in Kanjurmarg instead and directed her to enter a container stationed on the service road.
“The guard then locked the container door from inside, undressed her and forced himself on her,” said a police officer. Two children who were playing nearby heard the girl screaming and were trying to peep inside the container when the two patrolling policemen spotted them and suspected something was wrong, the officer added.
“The boys fled from the spot, but the policemen started knocking on the container door. After the accused reluctantly opened the door and the girl saw the policemen, she narrated the entire incident. She was then rushed to the hospital for medical examination,” the officer said.
Based on her statement, the accused was booked for kidnapping and rape as well as under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the officer added.
The accused was apprehended from the spot and taken to Kanjurmarg police station. When it became clear that he had kidnapped the girl from Wadala, he was handed over to the Wadala TT police. Meanwhile, the girl’s parents had also reached the police station to register a missing complaint as their daughter was untraceable for nearly four hours.