Delhi police to contact UK counterparts
A day after British national was sent to 14-day judicial custody in a case of alleged sexual assault on three visually-impaired minors, the Delhi police will approach the UK police to know the background of the accused.
“We will be contacting the UK police shortly to check the antecedents of the accused to know if he was involved in similar crimes in the UK. Murray Ward, a native of Gloucestershire in the UK, worked with Sterlite Technology Limited in Gurgaon till April. So far, we have found that the accused had harassed three children of the institution,” an investigator said.Apart from the UK police, the law enforcement agency will also contact the police of Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand as Mr Ward lived in these countries before coming to India. The police are investigating whe-ther the accused was involved in sexual harassment cases in these countries. During preliminary probe, it was found that Mr Ward used to have chats with “sexual undertones” with more than 33 other inmates. His laptop and mobile phone have been sent for forensic examination.
As per sources, Mr Ward drew an annual salary of `1.5 crore, said an official.
In February 2017, he had suffered a paralytic attack and since then, has been under treatment. For better counseling of the three minor victims of the case, the police was taking help of a child specialist from the AIIMS. Mr Ward was also charged with legal provisions under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
P.R. Verma, general secretary, National Association for the Blind (NAB) said they were “extremely shocked and disgusted” at this betrayal of trust and by the accused and want him punished accpording to law. “We are fully cooperating with the police,” he added.