Delhi girl goes missing, 20-year-old kidnapper traced to Patiala house, charged with rape

New Delhi, June 24

A 20-year-old man was arrested from Punjab’s Patiala and charged with kidnapping and rape, days after a minor girl went missing from her house in outer Delhi’s Narela, police said on Wednesday.

They said the accused was arrested from the house of his relative in Patiala and the girl was also recovered from there.

The accused, a labourer, stays in the same locality in Narela where the 14-year-old girl lives with her family, they said.

After the girl went missing on June 14, her mother approached the police and a case was registered on her complaint under section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code, police said.

During the investigation, it came to notice that the accused was also missing from his home.

Technical surveillance was activated and the man was traced to Patiala, where he was staying at his relative’s place, said Gaurav Sharma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer-North).

The missing girl was also traced to the same house, he said.

The girl also alleged sexual assault by the accused after which sections of rape under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were added in the case and the accused arrested, he added.

There was no clear assertion from the police or the two families if the two were in a relationship.

However, police said there was resentment in the girl’s family as she was a minor and the man belonged to the other community. PTI