Released rape convict rapes another minor girl in MP’s Satna; arrested again

A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man who was recently released from jail after serving 10 years in prison for raping another minor in the city of Satna in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

The minor, who used to beg with her grandmother at a local temple, was abducted by the suspect Rakesh Verma, 35, in public view and then allegedly raped her in a secluded area near the temple on Wednesday evening. The girl who is said to be in a serious condition is under treatment at the Rewa Medical College.

Police have arrested Verma.

“The girl was sitting with her grandmother in the temple at 5.30 PM on Wednesday when Rakesh Verma came and said he will give chocolates to her. Verma (then) took her on his lap. The girl started crying, and so the grandmother asked him to leave the girl. But Verma he ran away from the temple (with the minor),” Satna superintendent of police Ashutosh Gupta said,

The unconscious and bleeding minor was found by her grandmother and a group of locals after they launched a search for her in the neighbourhood. They also filed the complaint to the police.

Verma was also found with the minor near a pond called “Jagat Dev Talab” at around 7 pm.

Police arrested Verma from the spot and admitted the minor to the district hospital from where she was referred to Rewa Medical College, Gupta added.

Investigating police officers found out that Verma was arrested in 2012 for raping a minor girl in the same district and was released only recently after serving a decade in jail.

Also Read: Kerala child rape-murder accused also named in 2018 POCSO case in Delhi: Police

Verma has booked under section 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of rape and under relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO).

The case in Satna comes barely two weeks after a man who was charged under POCSO and under trial in Ghazipur in Delhi allegedly raped and murdered a minor in Kerala while on bail.

Asafak Alam, a native of Bihar, was arrested from a suburb near Aluva in Kerala in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old daughter of migrant workers, also from Bihar, HT had reported earlier this month.

While investigating the case, police found that a case had been registered against him in 2018 at the Ghazipur police station in Delhi under sections 12 of the POCSO Act and 354, 354 A of the IPC.

He was an undertrial prisoner in the case, spent a month in jail and later got out on bail, the HT report said.

(With inputs from Amit Singh from Satna)