RAIPUR: A handcuffed youth, accused of kidnapping and raping a minor, managed to flee from the Surajpur police station apparently taking advantage of the deployed police personnel who were napping.
The person identified as Suraj Vishwakarma eloped with a 17-year-old girl on December 1 following which the case of kidnapping, inducing to compel for marriage and rape was registered at Kotwali thana in Surajpur district, about 330 km north of Raipur.
“The accused was arrested yesterday evening and the girl who was with him has been shifted to Sakhi centre in the city. But he fled during the early hours at around 4.45 am from the Kotwali police station. One assistant sub-inspector, a head constable and four constables have been suspended. The CCTV footage showed Vishwakarma marching towards the bus-stand. The accused was to be produced before the court today”, the Surajpur district superintendent of police Rajesh Kukreja told the Express.
The six policemen deployed to keep a vigil on him at the police station were caught napping when the youth escaped, the officer said.
“We have launched a manhunt for the accused. He will soon be arrested”, the district police chief said.
The accused has been arrested under the POCSO (The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences), various Sections of the IPC 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (abducting or inducing to compel her marriage) and 466 (forgery), the SP stated that further added that the girl recovered is pregnant.