THANE: A 37-year-old married man has been arrested by the
Kalwa
police allegedly for sexually abusing a 16-year-old mentally-challenged girl in Kalwa area.
The accused Shrikant Gaike (37) is father of three children and native of Yavatmal, has been arrested.
"A few days back, the child helpline number 1098 received an anonymous call saying that someone had sexually abused the 16-year-old girl residing in Shanti nagar slum area of Kalwa," said police.
Based on the tip-off, an organisation and its staff, Shraddha Narkar got into the act and contacted the Kalwa police.
Accordingly, Kalwa police got into action to search for the special child and took her parents into confidence and told them about the seriousness of the issue, said Venkat Andhale, the assistant commissioner of police, Kalwa division.
"With the brief description of the accused they searched the thick slum area of Ganpati pada, Bhaskar nagar, Paudpada, Waghoba nagar and the neighbouring area and zeroed in on the accused whose description matched," said Andhale.
"The police questioned him on the whereabouts and his link with the victim, initially he gave evasive answers but later confessed to the crime," said the police officer.
During the probe, it was revealed that it was on March 6, the accused lured the girl with chocolates took her to a secluded part of the slums and raped her.
The police said that the medical reports has confirmed that she was raped.
A case has been registered with Kalwa police and further investigation is under way.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
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