PUNE: A worker (30) was arrested on Feb 17 morning on the charge of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl near Pune railway station.Senior Inspector Pramod Khopikar of Government Railway Police (GRP), Pune station police station, said, “The girl was sleeping on platform number one of the station. The worker took her to an isolated spot near Maldhakka Chowk and sexually assaulted her. He then left the girl near the railway station and fled.” Khopikar said, “We studied the CCTV footage of the area and tracked the worker’s movements to old parts of the city. We found him working there and arrested him. We have decided to conduct the trial of the case in a fast-track court.” The suspect hails from Chhattisgarh. The girl’s parents are sugar cane farm workers. After the sugar cane season ended, the family wanted to go to Madhya Pradesh. They took a train from Kurduwadi to Pune and were supposed to board a connecting train to Madhya Pradesh from Pune station, Khopikar said. “The suspect had boarded the same train from Pandharpur. He was travelling alone and intended to catch a train to Madhya Pradesh,” he said.Khopikar said, “The girl’s family slept on the platform. The girl woke up around 1.30am and so did the arrested worker. He then took her to an isolated spot near Maldhakka Chowk and sexually assaulted her. The girl started crying out of pain and he dropped her near the railway station. By then, the girl’s parents had approached the police. We launched a search for the girl and found her.”(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
