Delhi Police said on Tuesday that they have arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly raping an 87-year-old woman at her residence in the national capital's Tilak Nagar area.
The accused, who has been identified as Ankit alias Jhandal alias Mogli, a resident of Harijan Colony, Tilak Nagar, was working as a part-time sweeper in the area.
Furnishing details about the case, Additional DCP (West District), Prashant Gautam, said the elderly victim lady is a resident of Tilak Nagar where she stays with her 65-year-old daughter.
On Sunday, as a daily routine, the daughter went for a walk in a park nearby around midday. "She did not lock the main door and just bolted the latch. When she came back after one hour or so, she found the main door of the house open," the official said.
The victim was very mentally disturbed and could only tell about her missing phone.
Gautam said that when the police arrived, the daughter of the victim submiited a handwritten complaint wherein the victim alleged that an unknown person entered her house on the pretext of checking gas connection. The victim gave her phone to the accused to call her daughter, but the accused fled with the cellphone.
Accordingly, a case under Section 380 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Tilak Nagar police station.
However, the complainant on Monday reported that the senior citizen was also allegedly raped.
After this the police added relevant sexual assault charges. The police then formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident of the alleged rape.
"Ground intelligence sources were activated to identify and arrest the accused. Technical data analysis along with scanning of CCTV footage was also done to identify the accused," the officer informed.
Delhi Police nab accused
Finally, based on the CCTV footage, the police team zeroed in on the suspect and apprehended him. The stolen mobile phone was also recovered from his possession.
On sustained interrogation, the accused revealed that while roaming in the area, he went upstairs with the intent to commit theft and found the door without lock. He opened the latch and went inside where he found the old lady alone in a room. The victim lady asked the accused about the reason for his presence to which he replied that he came there for gas repair.
Finding her alone, the accused bolted the door from inside and told her that by mistake the door has been closed and is not opening, on which the octogenarian woman gave her phone to call her daughter. But instead of dialling, the accused forcibly committed sexual assault.
Notably, as per the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) four months ago, the national capital recorded the highest number of crimes against women among all the metropolitan cities of the country.
According to the data compiled by the Delhi Police, 1,725 women were allegedly raped till October 31, 2021 in the city. In 2020, 1,429 women had to face the heinous crime till the same period.
(With inputs from IANS)
