POCSO convict rapes 4-year-old in Madhya Pradesh a year after release from jail
According to the police, accused Rakesh Verma abducted the minor from outside a temple, where she used to beg along with her grandmother
A 35-year-old man, who had walked out of the jail last year having spent 10 years behind bars for raping a four-year-old girl, was arrested for abduction and rape of a five-year-old girl in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, police officers said on Thursday.
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According to the police, accused Rakesh Verma abducted the minor from outside a temple, where she used to beg along with her grandmother, in full public view on Wednesday evening and later raped her.
“The girl was sitting with her grandmother in temple premises at 5.30 pm when the accused, Rakesh Verma, approached her and said he would give her chocolates. He made her sit in his lap, following which the girl started crying and her grandmother asked him to leave her alone,” Satna superintendent of police (SP) Ashutosh Gupta said. “However, the accused took the girl and fled the spot.”
The grandmother along with others started searching for the girl and also filed a police complaint, the officer said. “The man was found with the girl, who was unconscious and bleeding, near Jagat Dev Talab at around 7 pm,” Gupta said, adding that the accused was subsequently arrested. “The police took the girl to the district hospital, from where she has been referred to Rewa Medical College.”
Verma was booked under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. On Thursday, the accused was produced before the court, which sent him to judicial custody, the officer said.
A resident of Jeevan Jyoti colony in Satna, Verma was arrested in April 2012 for abducting and raping another four-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 10-year imprisonment by the Satna district court. He came out of the jail after completing his sentence in May 2022, police said.
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He worked at a local restaurant and was living alone at his house. The restaurant owner said he was not aware of the Verma’s previous criminal record, another officer said.
“The accused did not show any regret and behaved as if he was mentally ill when questioned by the officers about the crime. In between fits of laughter, he would shout that jail was his second home,” an investigating officer said, requesting anonymity.
