Man accused of raping and kidnapping minor girl held after 40 years from Agra
MUMBAI: A 70-year-old man was arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping nearly 40 years after he jumped bail and fled from the city to avoid trial. The man, i dentified as Dawood Bandu Khan alias Pappa, had sold his property in Mumbai after the case was registered and shifted to Agra, said police. He was traced via a designer and a shop owner who had supplied clothes and sweets respectively for his son’s wedding and was brought to the city after an Agra-based court granted a transit remand.
Khan, however, claimed that he was married to the minor girl he was accused of kidnapping and raping, and both the girl and her mother, the complainant in the case, were dead. According to the DB Marg police, Dawood Khan used to purchase scrap from jewellery manufacturers in Zaveri Bazaar and extract gold dust from it. “He was a big name in Zaveri Bazaar then,” said a police officer.
In 1984, Khan fled with a minor girl from Girgaum to Agra, his native place, and began living in the Hariparwat locality. He was booked and arrested for rape and kidnapping after the girl was rescued from Agra, based on a complaint by her mother.
“There was no Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act then. So, the accused was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. But he was granted bail after some days,” said Mohit Garg, deputy commissioner of police, zone II.
A chargesheet was filed against Khan in 1985, but he could not be traced, said Garg. The sessions court subsequently declared him a proclaimed offender.
“Recently, a team led by subinspector Santosh Koyande and constable Vinod Rane from the DB Marg police station visited the old building in Grant Road where he used to reside and found that he had sold the house 25-years ago,” said Garg.
While speaking with Khan’s neighbours, the police team learnt that his son got married ten years ago and clothes and sweets for the marriage ceremony were supplied from Mumbai.
“We then got some information about the dress designer and the sweet supplier who had attended the wedding. Through them, we got a ten-year-old mobile number of the accused,” said Vinay Ghorpade, senior police inspector attached with DB Marg police station.
Police traced the mobile number to Agra, following which a team was dispatched to the city.
“We used technical details and picked up Khan from his house in Hariparwat with the help of local police,” said Koyande.
The police said Khan, 70, had retired and simply forgotten about the case. He was produced before the trial court which had issued a proclamation against him.
“He has been claiming that the case was registered by the minor girl’s mother and he went on to marry the same girl later and has children from her. However, he never bothered to attend the court. The girl (his wife) and her mother who filed the case both are dead now. It is for the courts to decide on the case now,” said a police officer.