The Mumbai police on Tuesday arrested a 33-year-old man, Chatis Das, for raping his nine-year-old daughter and forcing her into prostitution.

The police have also arrested two friends of Das — Shabir Sayyed and Ashok Sahu — with whom Das had allegedly asked his daughter to have sex with for money.

“He is currently unemployed and an impulsive alcoholic and drug addict,” said DCP (zone 11) Sanjay Banerjee. According to him, Das had gone to Cambodia in 2000 where he had married a Cambodian woman. However, in 2003, he came back to India after divorcing his wife. Meanwhile, Das had left his daughter in the custody of the Missionaries of Charity in Cambodia. In 2004, the child was sent to the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata, from where Das took her custody.

According to police, Das had sexually assaulted his daughter in 2008, when she was seven years old.

“Chatis Das’s father, Arunachalam Das, had accommodated his son and granddaughter in his house after Das returned from Cambodia. But he soon kicked Das out of his house as he used to beat his mother. Following this, Das and his daughter shifted to a house in Malad,” said Purushottam S. Gawande, senior police inspector, Charkop Police station.

In June 2009, the victim had called up Arunachalam and complained about her father. Following this, the police said, Arunachalam asked his granddaughter to go to the nearest police station. After receiving the complaint, the police sent her to Kerala along with her grandmother.

... contd.