Ujjain Rape Case: Auto Driver Held

Bhopal: Nearly 72 hours after a minor rape survivor was rescued by inmates of an ashram in Ujjain city in Madhya Pradesh in serious condition, police on Thursday arrested the main accused in the incident.

The accused, identified as Bharat Soni, was injured when he tried to flee while being taken to crime spot for investigation, in-charge of Mahakal police station in Ujjain, Ajey Verma said.

The accused was one of the five auto rickshaw drivers who were detained for interrogation in connection with the incident based on the clues received from the footage of CCTV recovered from the area, police said.

The accused tried to flee while he was being taken to the crime spot for investigation and was injured after he fell down while being chased by the police, Mr Verma said.

He was admitted to the district hospital in Ujjain for treatment, he added.

According to Ujjain district superintendent of police Sachin Sharma, police had found blood stains on the backseat of an auto rickshaw in which the victim was seen with the driver in the footage of CCTV recovered by the police.

Meanwhile, police on Thursday identified the rape survivor as the resident of of Jhotwara police station area under Satna district in Madhya Pradesh.

“A missing complaint was registered by her grandfather in Jhotwara police station on September 24”, Mr Sharma said on Thursday.

Police investigation has suggested that the victim’s mother had deserted her when she was a child. Her father was mentally unstable.

She along with her brother was staying with their grandfather in the village.

She was studying in class eight.

She reportedly fled her village for a better life, police investigation has suggested.

However, the reason for her leaving her home could be ascertained from her grandfather who was expected to reach Indore to visit her anytime, police said.

According to the police, the victim had boarded a bus from her village to Ujjain on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

The accused auto rickshaw driver might have committed the crime after she landed in Ujjain bus stand, police suspected.

In some footage of CCTV, she was seen walking for around three kms in torn clothes, while bleeding profusely before falling semi-conscious in the garden of the ashram in Ujjain on Monday evening.

She was seen in the footage of the CCTV pleading for help from the people she had come across while she was roaming in an area in the city, but was shooed away by them.

The inmates of the ashram rescued her and informed the police, leading to her admission in the hospital in Indore.