Hyderabad: The Jawaharnagar police on Saturday arrested a 40-year-old mason from Odisha on charges of kidnapping and raping a three-and-a-half-year-old girl at Dammaiguda in Keesara last Sunday. Police said that even as the investigation was on into the incident, the suspect tried to kidnap another minor girl on Friday from the same area.
The arrested was identified as Abhiram Dass alias Abhi (40), a mason from Bandlaguda and a native of Badrak in Odisha. Police said Abhiram had got separated from his wife and was addicted to alcohol, after which he began targeting children. On Sunday afternoon, he went to the child’s colony and on finding her alone, kidnapped her.
“He took her deep into the Nagaram Reserve Forest area around evening and raped the child in the night. The next morning, he abandoned the unconscious child with injuries near the water tank in Pragathi Nagar. Locals noticed and rescued her,” an official said.
The Jawaharnagar police, who had earlier booked a kidnap case and started investigating, had shifted the child to the hospital, where doctors confirmed sexual assault. The case was then altered to that of kidnap and under the POCSO Act.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat then formed special teams to nab the suspect. Even as the investigation was on, Abhiram, allegedly went to Pragathi Nagar and tried to kidnap a nine-year-old girl from near a shop on Friday. The child managed to escape, with the Jawaharnagar police booking another case in this regard.
