‘Rapist’ constable’s cousin brother commits suicide

Rajkot: Cousin brother of police constable Ramji Dabhi, who was arrested for abducting and raping a 13-year-old girl, committed suicide after she told the police that he had also sexually assaulted her twice.

Dabhi had confined the girl in his cousin Ramesh Vekariya's farm in Dudhai village of Jamnagar's Jodiya taluka after luring her into a relationship. Though Vekariya ended his life by consuming poison at his farm on Saturday night, it was only on Monday that the city police got to know about his death.

After the girl told the police that 40-year-old Vekariya had also raped her twice, police began a search for him. However, they got to know that he had succumbed in Morbi Civil Hospital on Saturday night.

Investigation also revealed that 42-year-old Dabhi had raped the girl several times for nearly two months. From Dudhai, he brought her to Railnagar quarters from where she was rescued on Thursday last week.

Dabhi, who was posted at the deputy commissioner of police's (DCP) bungalow, had started stalking the girl when she used to go to school from her house in Bhomeshwar Wadi. Later, he lured her into relationship by gifting her a mobile phone.

On Thursday night, a person living in the girl's neighbourhood, saw her watching Sharad Poonam garba in Railnagar and immediately informed her parents.

Dabhi had remarried after his first wife died. He lived with the second wife, while his son from the first marriage is studying MBBS. He has been sent to judicial custody.