Mumbai: Chasing an absconding man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in Matunga, a team from Sion police station spent over seven days in Kalaburagi district, formerly known as Gulbarga, Karnataka, by disguising themselves as villagers.
The incident occurred almost three months ago, when the victim’s brother had approached the police alleging that his sister had gone missing. The police registered a case of kidnapping and later traced her. However, the family found her demeanour changed. After counselling, she revealed being raped by a man named Govind Rathod alias Kunal.
POCSO case
The FIR about kidnapping was supplemented with charges of rape under the sections of Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children and Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The accused, a resident of Badlapur, had by then fled. With no clues, the police relied on technical investigation and found that he could have run away to his village Dhavji Naik Tanda, Gulbarga. When the team reached his village, he was nowhere to be found, forcing the team to return to Mumbai. Clues pointed to his movement in Ahmednagar and then back in Gulbarga on July 18.
The police team was reconstituted and was led by police inspector Dilip Chavan, belonging to the Banjara community. Chavan and his team, consisting of four more cops, entered the village this time disguising themselves as some villagers’ relatives. Chavan stayed at a house next to Govind’s and took time to get friendly with villagers by conversing with them in their native language.
On July 24, Chavan met the head of the village and convinced him to “have a word” with Govind. “I told him, in our native language, to make Govind understand the consequences of his actions. With him constantly hiding from the police, after committing a grave crime, he was troubling his relatives and the villagers, I told him. The head then spoke to Govind, counselled him and convinced him to surrender,” said Chavan.
The arrests were made in the presence of Wadi police station officials, said Manisha Shirke, senior police inspector of Sion police station.
On Tuesday, Govind was brought to Mumbai and was presented in the court. He has been remanded in police custody till July 31, said Chavan, adding that further interrogation will begin shortly.
