The Bhopal police have arrested a 70-year-old man for eloping with a 15-year-old girl whom he used to give lessons on religion.
The accused Hafeez alias Rashid was hired by the girl’s grandmother to teach religious discourse, but instead fell in love with the teenage girl.
“The accused met the girl, a student of class X, a year ago and taught her for six months after which his services were discontinued. Despite that he continued to be in touch with the minor girl and on March 4 he eloped with her”, an official of the Hanumanganj police station said. Later, Hafeez took the girl to his nephew’s house after his neighbours raised their objection over the presence of a minor girl in his house.
Hafeez is a resident of Bajaria locality of the old city while the girl, originally from Jhansi, UP, was staying in Bhopal with her grandmother in the Kazi camp area of the city.
According to the police, after the girl’s grandmother launched a missing complaint, alleging the involvement of the accused, the police raided the house of Hafeez, but found him missing. “To trace his whereabouts, we decided to put his mobile phone under surveillance”, the source added.
The police have booked Hafeez under Section 361 (kidnapping) of the IPC and suspect that the girl has been sexually abused by the accused.