UP man abducts 3 girls, rapes them for months in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: A medical examination of three minor girls, aged betweem nine and 12, confirmed that they were raped by 54-year-old accused Rajesh Pandey, who was arrested from Kapurthala on Monday.
After the check, police have added provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to the FIR and reunited the rape survivors, who were rescued when Pandey was arrested, with their families.
Police said they were questioning Pandey, originally a resident of Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, to determine if he had committed such crimes earlier in Punjab or Uttar Pradesh. They mentioned that one of the survivors was the daughter of his relatives, and he had abducted her from his home state.
Jalandhar commissioner of police Dhanpreet Kaur said they had registered a case over a nine-year-old girl being kidnapped by a man on Feb 20 under Section 127(6) of the BNS at Division VIII police station. "Acting on the complaint, on April 21, a police team apprehended Rajesh Pandey from Kapurthala and rescued the kidnapped 9-year-old girl. They also found two more minor girls in his room," she said.
She mentioned that following the medical examination of the three girls, sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act were added to the FIR, and the rescued children were handed over to their families. A court here on Tuesday remanded the accused in police custody for three days.
The three survivors had told the police that the accused was doing "dirty things" with them. He had also shaved the heads of two survivors to prevent their identification. When police officials questioned his neighbours, they said he told them the parents of the three children had died, and he was looking after them. It also emerged that he would stay at a place for only a few weeks before moving elsewhere.
ACP (north) Atish Bhatia said the accused claimed during questioning that he had been living in Punjab for the last three decades. "We are questioning him to see if he committed more such crimes in Punjab or UP," he said.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)