RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police on Thursday arrested a personal assistant of former chief minister Raman Singh for allegedly raping a minor girl in Raipur.
The Raipur senior superintendent of police Arif H Sheikh confirmed about the arrest of Om Prakash Gupta who was taken into custody during the early hours of Thursday. The police arrested Gupta from his residence following a complaint lodged by the 16-year-old victim at women's police station here.
The complainant stated that in 2015, her parents left her in Gupta's care after he promised them to take care of her education, following which the abuse began in 2016 and lasted till December 2019. Gupta sexually assaulted the minor on several occasions at his other residence in Naya Raipur, and threatened her of dire consequences if she complained to anyone, a police official said quoting the complainant.
The victim, who hails from Rajnandgaon district, was also forced to engage in household work and give body massage to Gupta and his wife, the officer said. The victims who is a student of Class 11 at a government school here, was recently shifted to the school's hostel, where she happened to come in contact with an NGO that helped her file a police complaint, the officer added.
The accused has been charged under section 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said. Gupta has been associated with the former chief minister and BJP's national vice-president Raman Singh for the past 15 years. When asked about this development, Singh said that he has sought details from the police. “It would be difficult to comment without verifying the facts”, he said.