BHOPAL: A serial rapist acquitted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2018 — four years after receiving a death sentence for abducting and raping an eight-year-old school girl — has now been accused of raping an 11-year-old hearing- and speech-impaired, mentally challenged girl in Rajgarh district on the intervening night of February 1 and 2.
The orphan girl, who was severely malnourished as well, died on February 7 at a government hospital in Bhopal after battling for life for four days.
A fortnight after the ghastly incident of the rape came to light, multiple police teams probing the case across the country finally managed to track and arrest the accused.
He was identified as 41-year-old Ramesh Singh, a native of western MP’s Shajapur district, and he was habitual of abducting and raping minors.
On the night of February 1, the 11-year-old disabled girl was abducted from her hut in Narsinghgarh town of Rajgarh district and found the next day in the adjoining bushes bleeding from the private parts.
She was admitted at the government hospital in Bhopal, but despite all efforts by doctors, the severely malnourished girl breathed last on February 7 night.
“Taking the case on top priority, we formed 16 dedicated teams and zeroed upon around 382 people, based on grabs retrieved from 136 CCTV cameras installed at 46 locations. Finally, the probe focused on 15-20 suspects and at last the actual accused, 41-year-old Ramesh Singh,” Rajgarh district police superintendent Aditya Mishra told TNIE on Wednesday.
The search for Singh took the Rajgarh police teams from MP to Rajasthan and UP. After committing the crime in Narsinghgarh (Rajgarh district), Singh fled to Prayagraj via Rajasthan and stayed at the ongoing Mahakumbh for a few days. He changed his clothes thereby stealing the clothes of those bathing at one of the ghats.
“His location was tracked when he borrowed the cell phone of a pilgrim from Karnataka to call his wife in MP. Subsequently, multiple teams zeroed in upon 18-20 railway stations between Prayagraj and Shajapur in MP. Finally, the police managed to track and nab him from the Rajasthan border in Rajgarh district only on February 18,” a senior MP police officer said.
According to cops, while interrogating Singh, he has no repentance for the crime he committed.
“He raped her multiple times and tried to choke her to death. With the girl not resisting the bid, he thought she was dead and left her back. He wanted to kill her, as in 2014, leaving the eight-year-old girl alive after rape, had led to his arrest and subsequent death penalty.”
As per the Rajgarh district SP Aditya Mishra, “Realising the seriousness of the case, a special investigation team (SIT) had already been constituted in the matter, whose members are grilling him (Singh) one by one. Taking cognizance of his three previous crimes 2003, 2014 and 2025, his modus operandi seems to be targeting minors. So we’ll create his DNA profile and get it generated at the forensic science lab (FSL). We’ll then get that profile cross-matched with evidence in any other unsolved rape cases anywhere else in the country, to find out whether he has committed similar crimes elsewhere or not.”
Earlier cases
Singh hails from a village in the Avantipura Badodia area of Shajpur district, Ramesh was arrested in 2003 for raping a five-year-old girl in Mubarikpur village. A local court sentenced him to ten years in prison after holding him guilty for the crime. After serving the ten-year jail term, he was released in 2013.
Just a year later, he abducted an eight-year-old girl from outside a school in Ashtha area of central MP’s Sehore district and raped her. A year later in 2014, an additional district judge (ADJ) court, while convicting him for the heinous crime, awarded the death penalty.
Four years later, the Madhya Pradesh High Court, overturned the lower court’s verdict on technical grounds, stating that as the alleged rape survivor’s father was present during the identification parade, it could have influenced the results. He subsequently walked free in the 2014 rape case.
The state government’s plea against the 2018 MP High Court judgement (overturning the death penalty pronounced by the lower court) reportedly remains pending before the Supreme Court till date, sources in Rajgarh district police of MP told TNIE on Wednesday.
Ongoing police investigations which involve the accused’s prolonged grilling and also statements from his family of two daughters (aged 24 and 16) and a son (aged around ten years) have revealed the strong possibility of Singh having even raped his youngest daughter multiple times, when she was aged around 12-13 years.
Not just that but Singh, who is a habitual drug addict, often came home dressed as a woman.
Some years back, his mother too was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside their house in their native village of Shajapur district, when Singh’s father was living away from his son’s family and is terrified even at the slightest mention of his son.