Delhi rape accused claims he had an accomplice,protests rock city

The five-year-old girl had been raped and held captive for more than 48 hours.

Three days after a five-year-old girl,who had been raped and held captive for more than 48 hours,was rescued in East Delhi,her alleged tormentor,24-year-old Manoj Kumar,was arrested from the house of his in-laws in a Bihar village. Police claimed Manoj named one Pradip Kumar who he said helped him tie the hands of the girl before she was raped.

A team of policemen from Delhi and Bihar tracked Manoj to Chiknauta village in Muzaffarpur district. He was produced in a district court where police sought transit remand and flew him to Delhi.

In the Capital,political parties and affiliated outfits held noisy protests and paralysed traffic.

At AIIMS,where the girl is being treated,doctors said she was alert and showing signs of recovery.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi also visited AIIMS and spoke to the girls parents. Party spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi said: Sonia Gandhi has condemned the heinous incident… She has appealed to the government and administration that action and not words are required to ensure such incidents never happen again.

Home Minister Sus-hil Kumar Shinde said an inquiry was being conducted into allegations of police negligence.

We are waiting for the report. Give us some time,we will take action, he said. Reports on two other probes one involving the intrusion into Shindes house by quota seekers and the other on the SFI attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Finance Minister are also awaited.

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These remarks fuelled speculation that pressure was mounting on the government to effect changes at the top in Delhi Police.

On the arrest of Manoj,Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Saurav Kumar said: We used mobile tracking for the exact location of the accused. Since he was asleep and had not switched off his mobile phone,it was easy to trace him.

In Delhi,a police officer claimed they had been told that a woman related to Manoj was raped and murdered 11 months ago. This information,he said,was also being checked.

Manojs wife was in the house when the police turned up around 1 am Saturday. Police seized some clothes from the house and took away his phone to check on his movements and conversations. Following the arrest,the village panchayat decided on a social boycott of the family.

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The five-year-old girl was abducted on April 15 and held captive for two days without food and water in a room that Manoj had rented below the floor where she lived with her parents. She was rescued on April 17 after a neighbour heard her wailing and alerted her parents and police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Prabhakar said: The accused took the girl to his room on April 15. That same night,he boarded the Swatantrata Sainani Express at 8.30 pm. He reached his village in Muzaffarpur the next day. On April 17,he went to the house of his in- laws.

Police said their preliminary investigation and the MLC report suggest that Manoj tried to strangle the girl. Assuming she was dead,he fled.