Rape accused held after 7 years

A 31-year-old man who was on the run for seven years after allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in Odisha’s Kendrapara district, has been arrested, police said.

The man had raped the teenager in 2014 and fled to Bengaluru, where he earned his livelihood as a plumber, an officer said on Monday.

He was apprehended in Bengaluru on Sunday. He was brought under transit remand on Monday and remanded in judicial custody, Pattamundai police station inspector Rakesh Tripathy said.

"In a significant achievement, a team led by IIC (inspector in-charge) Pattamundai PS (police station) arrested the principal accused in the heinous crime of gangrape of a minor girl after 7 years of absconding (sic),” the Kendrapara Police tweeted.

Another accused was earlier arrested from New Delhi in 2019. The rape survivor had delivered a girl child in 2015, according to police.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections for charges of gangrape, obscene acts and criminal intimidation, as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, the inspector added.