Thane: Youth held for rape, kidnap of teen relative

Thane: A 25-year-old man was arrested today for allegedly abducting and raping the minor daughter of a relative in Mira Road area of Thane, police said.

Ravikumar S Chourasia, hailing from a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow district and working as a painter here, got acquainted with the 14-year-old daughter of a relative last year, Mira Road police station inspector Dhananjay Kshirsagar said.

On June 30, the youth took the girl to a lonely place in Bhayander, while she was travelling in a bus back home, and allegedly raped her. Chourasia later took the girl to lodges in Virar and Nashik where he again sexually assaulted her.

The youth then took the girl to his village in Lucknow and raped her repeatedly there also while assuring that he would marry her, the police officer said. On 3 August, the girl returned to her Mira Road home and informed her mother about the offence following which the latter lodged a police complaint, Kshirsagar said.

Based on the complaint, the accused was arrested today and booked under sections 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 366(a) of the IPC and sections 3 and 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said, adding that further investigations were on.

PTI