Rewa (MP), Mar 30 (PTI) Police on Wednesday arrested a Hindu religious leader for allegedly raping a girl in a government circuit house in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, an official said.
The incident had taken place on March 28, and the accused, identified as Mahant Sitaram Das alias Sitaram Tripathi, a religious storyteller, was arrested from Waidhan town in neighbouring Singrauli district. He was picked up from a barber shop where he planned to change his look, he said.
The police had earlier arrested another accused, in whose name the circuit house room was booked, while Tripathi and his other associates, including the car driver, were absconding, the official said.
According to the official, the accused was caught with the help of cyber cell tracking his location after a strict warning from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for a speedy action in the case.
“Sitaram was arrested from a barber shop near the bus stand in Waidhan,” Morwa’s sub divisional officer of police (SDOP) Rajiv Pathak said.
Official sources said that taking a serious cognisance of the incident, CM Chouhan directed senior officers to take stern action against those involved in it by pulling down their properties using bulldozers.
Giving information about the incident without specifying the victim’s age, Additional Superintendent of Police Shivkumar Verma said Tripathi, the main accused, had checked into a room of the circuit house along with the girl on March 28. The room was booked in the name of an alleged habitual offender. Tripathi’s associates bolted the room from outside. Inside the room, the seer forced the victim to consume liquor and then allegedly threatened and raped her, the official said, adding that he and his associates later took the victim to some other place in a car, but she somehow managed to jump out of the vehicle and escape.
The victim reached the Civil Lines police station where she informed officials about the incident, he said.
Based on her complaint, the police on Tuesday registered a case against Tripathi and his associates under relevant Indian Penal Code sections, including 376 (D) (gang rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
He said the police were also probing how the circuit house room was booked in the name of a habitual offender.
Leader of Opposition in the MP Assembly Kamal Nath took to Twitter to condemn the gang rape incident.
“How the circuit house room was booked for them, and how they consumed liquor inside it is a matter of investigation,” the Congress leader tweeted, and demanded stern action against those involved in the incident. PTI COR MAS GK NP NP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
