Sitapur, Sep 22 (IANS): Police on Tuesday arrested Avadh Ram alias Bhole Shankar within 12 hours after he allegedly raped a six-year-old girl in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh. The accused allegedly lured the girl to a sugarcane field before committing the heinous crime. He opened fire at the police team that had gone to nab him and sustained a leg injury in retaliatory firing.
The little girl underwent a medical examination to confirm the rape, while the Superintendent of Police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information leading to the accused Avadh Ram alias Bhole Shankar’s arrest.
CO (Mahmoodabad) Kapoor Kumar said police teams were formed under the directions of the Sitapur Superintendent of Police to conduct continuous raids and trace the accused.
“Today, on September 22, based on specific information provided by an informer, the accused was spotted early in the morning near Berra village. When our police team and the Mission Shakti team arrived on the road near Berra village to conduct a raid, the accused opened fire at the police after seeing them. In self-defence, the police retaliated,” Kumar said.
“He sustained injuries during the firing and has been sent to hospital. We recovered a revolver, two live cartridges and Rs 350 in cash from him. Further legal action is being taken,” he added.
In a separate incident, a 17-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh was allegedly gang-raped by a bus driver and conductor inside a moving sleeper bus after they offered her a lift amid heavy rain in the Delhi-NCR region, police said on August 31.
The incident allegedly took place around 11.30 p.m. on August 4 during the bus’ 60-km journey from Pari Chowk in Greater Noida to Sector 63 in Noida and then towards the Outer Ring Road, where the girl was allegedly abandoned.
The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep and conductor Sandeep, 29, have been arrested. The bus was seized and sent for forensic examination.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatt said the girl, a Class 11 student, had left her home to visit her cousin in Noida. Amid heavy rain and darkness, she accidentally reached Pari Chowk in Greater Noida.
An empty sleeper bus passing through the area stopped after she signalled to the driver. The driver and conductor told her they were heading towards Noida Sector 63 and offered to drop her there, the official had said.
