CHENNAI: A 37-year-old city autorickshaw driver was arrested on Thursday for allegedly raping a girl aged 13 for several months. The crime came to light after the child was found nine months pregnant. The girl was rushed to a hospital on Friday after she was said to have developed labour pains.
Based on a complaint from the victim’s mother, police arrested Perumal, the autorickshaw driver.
Police said the girl’s mother was a widow. She would often leave her daughter in the house of her neighbour, the autorickshaw driver, before going for work. “When his wife also went out, Perumal threatened and raped the girl several times. The girl had kept silent because he had threatened to kill her mother,” said a police officer.
The incident came to light when the girl fell ill recently and a doctor consulted by the family found she was pregnant.
In another case, a 55-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old child. Police said Nagamurthy used to take the child, who was living in a different portion of the same building, to his house in the guise of playing with it.
After the child complained to her father, he was handed over to police. He was later remanded to judicial custody.