Ghaziabad shocker: Man lures 7-year-old from fair with ice-cream offer, rapes her

GHAZIABAD: A 19-year-old scrap dealer was arrested for allegedly abducting a 7-year-old girl from a Ramlila fair on the pretext of buying her an ice-cream and raping her in a forested area nearby on Saturday night.
CCTV footage showed Saddam — a resident of Nandgram — trying to grab another child in the fair, but failing to do so as she escapes his clutches.
Poonam Mishra, ACP (Nandgram), said the girl had accompanied her father to a food stall he had put up at the fair.She excused herself in the evening, telling her father she needed to use the restroom. When she did not return after a while, her family launched a search for her, fearing she might have been lost in the crowd.
"They searched through the night, but did not find her. The next morning, she was found unconscious in a city forest near the Ramlila venue. There were injuries and scratch marks all over her body. When she came to, she narrated her ordeal. She said she was dragged into the forest and assaulted sexually by a man who threatened to kill her if she revealed anything. Her family took her to a doctor first to treat her injuries and approached police the next day. A case was registered only on Monday," Mishra said.
As police scanned CCTV footage, Saddam could be seen talking to the girl and luring her away from the crowd.
"He stood at one place and observed children from a distance. At one point, he tried to grab another child, but she managed to run away. When he found this girl walking towards the restroom, he struck up a conversation with her and persuaded her to accompany him. He raped her in a forested area just metres away from the fair. A medical report showed she had suffered internal injuries," the ACP said.
The ACP said a police team was formed and Saddam was arrested from his house in Nandgram. When he was taken to the scene of crime, Saddam allegedly retrieved a gun he had hidden in the area and fired at the cops. He, however, was shot in the leg in retaliatory firing and had to be admitted to hospital.
An FIR was registered against the scrap dealer under Section 65 (2) (rape) of BNS and relevant provisions of the Pocso Act.