Cooks held for sexual assault on three kids at Kalamboli ashram

NAVIMUMBAI: Two caretakers of an ashram in Kalamboli, who allegedly sexually assaulted three minor kids, were arrested on Monday night.

The caretakers were arrested after an FIR was registered following a complaint from the father of the victims who are three step-brothers, aged 11, 12 and 17. The arrested men were identified as 27-year-old Gaurav Kamat and 19-year-old Dipesh Niakm, who cooked meals for the kids in the ashram.

According to the Kalamboli police, the minors recently told their father, a Nallasopara resident who sells flowers in Dadar, that they were being sexually assaulted by the caretakers.

“The complainant had sent his kids to the ashram around three years ago because of some personal problems. The kids have been attending schools from the ashram ever since,” said Machindra Khade, senior inspector, Kalamboli police station. The kids said the caretakers would take them to their rooms at night and sexually assault them, said Khade.

Sources from the Kalamboli police said no other kids from the ashram have made similar complaints so far. “Most of the kids had left for summer vacations and we don’t have statements of all of them. However, from the statements of these three kids, we have understood that there is authenticity in their complaints,” said Khade. The accused were booked under section 377 (unnatural intercourse) 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and under relevant sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. They have been remanded in police custody.