Telangana: Blind girl's molester held

Hyderabad: A day after a blind girl was molested by her neighbour, SR Nagar police nabbed the suspect from a remote village in Mahbubnagar district. B. Swami, 33, had gone absconding after the police launched an investigation. Police tracked down Swami’s location and arrested him after a chase in the village. Investigation officials said that Swami thought that as the girl was blind and physically challenged, he would not be identified and could get away.

Police said the suspect escaped from his native village in Mahbubnagar after switching off his phone. But the special teams of SR Nagar cops tracked him down. As the police was trying to bring him to Hyderabad villagers tried to stop them. Village heads intervened in the matter making it difficult for the cops to bring him to SR Nagar. But police said that he would be brought to Hyderabad and will be produced in court on Tuesday.  

Swami, a mason, had been living near the victim’s house in Borabanda. One of his relatives, a woman in her early 70s, was living in the same building, where the victim lived. Swami saw the girl when he came to meet the elderly woman, police said. The 18-year-old blind girl was allegedly molested by Swami in her flat in SR Nagar. The girl, who is also physically challenged, was alone when he entered her house. Her mother alleged that Swami overpowered and molested her without being noticed by neighbours. The incident occurred when the girl’s mother had gone out for work.

Although the girl’s mother said initially that she was raped, after medical examination, the police said that it was not rape but only molestation. The SR Nagar police booked a case against Swami under Section 354 following a complaint from the girl’s mother.