BHOPAL: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Madhya Pradesh police will probe the alleged rape of a speech and hearing impaired girl and the molestation of two other girls by the director of a private hostel at a posh residential township in Bhopal.
All the three girls, aged between 18 and 19 years, resided in the private hostel run in two houses by Ashwini Sharma, the accused, in Awadhpuri area.
Sharma, 36, was produced before a court, which sent him in police remand till Sunday.
In a related development, the 19-year-old tribal girl who had lodged a case of rape and molestation against Sharma in Dhar district on Wednesday recorded her statements before a first class judicial magistrate (JMFC) on Friday.
Sources, who accompanied the girl to the magistrate's court, confided to TNIE that she narrated how she faced the ordeal from Diwali last year to August 4. Sharma raped her multiple times and tortured her on refusal to comply with his demand, the girl said in her statement.
Investigation revealed that Sharma ran the private hostel for differentially-abled girls at two duplex in the residential township till March-April 2018. Sharma, who doesn't live with his wife, sexually assaulted the 19-year-old girl at the third duplex hired for running the mess for the hostel. After closing the hostel in two other duplexes, he retained four girls, including the rape survivor, at the third duplex where he continued his atrocities.
The two girls, who were allegedly molested, lodged a case in Indore on Thursday night. All three cases, including rape-molestation and two cases of molestation, were transferred to Bhopal.
"All three cases will now be probed by the SIT. We'll try and file the charge sheet in these cases in the next 10 days and, then, focus on prosecution to get deserving punishment to the accused," said IG, Bhopal, Jaideep Prasad on Friday.
As per sources connected with the probe, a fourth girl might also have been sexually assaulted by Sharma. "We'll record statements anyone else, if it is necessary during the course of investigation," said Prasad, who along with other senior cops visited the sealed duplex house where the girl was allegedly raped and her batch mates molested.