Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, July 11

The Rachakonda police have arrested a man for allegedly sexually assaulting a three-and-a-half-year-old girl. The police claim that with the arrest they had cracked two cases of sexual assault over the past few days. 

The 40-year-old man has reportedly confessed to his involvement in both cases. Giving details, the police said that on the night of July 4, the Jawaharnagar police under Rachakonda police commissionerate received a complaint about a missing child.

The father of the three-and-a-half-year-old girl told the police that he suspected kidnapping. 

The police found the girl the next morning, around 6:30 am, lying unconscious near a water tank in the same locality where her family lived.

A medical examination revealed that she had been sexually assaulted.  

In another incident reported to the police, an adult man had reportedly behaved inappropriately with a nine-year-old girl, and ran away when she called for help.  

Special teams of the police were formed after the three-and-half-year-old was found in the meantime on July 9, another incident of child sexual abuse was reported from Dammaiguda.

The mother of the girl said that a man wearing red clothes had touched her daughter inappropriately, but then her daughter cried for help, he ran towards the forest.  

Police found the identity of the accused based on CCTV footage and clues around the forest area where he was seen running away.  

The 40-year-old has been identified as Abhiram Dass, a resident of Bandlaguda. According to police, Abhiram had moved from Odisha to Hyderabad 12 years ago, had been working as a mason. He would allegedly target children and sexually assault them.

Police said that he admitted to having taken the three-and-half-year-old girl to a nearby forest area on July 4 afternoon, raped her at night, and left her the next morning near the water tank.  

He has been booked under Sections 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), and relevant sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, 2012 in the case of the three-and-half-year-old. In the case of the nine-year-old, he has been booked under section 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, and relevant sections of the POCSO Act.