Thane: A 55-year-old man allegedly attempted suicide after a Mumbai Police team arrived at his residence in Badlapur, Thane, on Tuesday night to arrest him for the alleged sexual assault of a minor girl. The girl is the daughter of a bedridden man whom the accused had been hired to care for.

A police officer investigating the sexual assault case said on Thursday, “The man was immediately rushed to the nearby private hospital, where he lay unconscious for almost 36 hours, and currently his condition is stable.

According to the police complaint, the minor girl’s father suffered a paralytic attack last year. The accused was hired in May to care for him from 8 am to 8 pm. During this time, the man allegedly began sexually assaulting the minor and made obscene remarks after her mother left for work.

Despite being warned by the girl’s mother, the man continued to harass her. On July 28, he allegedly entered her bedroom and harassed her again, prompting the girl and her mother to approach the police.

On Tuesday, the police traced the accused’s location to Badlapur, prompting a team consisting of two assistant police inspectors and three to four constables to reach the spot. Around 10 PM, the man locked himself inside his house and began threatening to end his life. Despite the police’s efforts to calm him down, he allegedly attempted suicide. Officers then broke open the door and rushed him to the hospital, said an officer involved in the investigation.

The Police registered a case against the accused under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on July 29, following a complaint by the minor girl and her mother, who reported the harassment that occurred on July 28, as reported.

Navi Mumbai: The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) has arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly running a sex racket using mobile phones to share photographs of women with potential clients and arranging their services. Two women were rescued during the operation, which took place near a hotel in the APMC area of Navi Mumbai.

The arrested accused, identified as Rahul Lakhmeshwar Mahto, was caught red-handed on the night of August 4 after he arrived in a taxi near Hotel Fantasy Residency in Sector 19C, APMC, with two women. He had allegedly arranged a deal with a decoy customer and accepted Rs 4,000 in cash for sexual services. Once the transaction was completed, the decoy gave the pre-decided signal, following which the AHTC team conducted a raid and apprehended Mahto.

According to police officials, Mahto was part of an online prostitution racket operating across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The AHTC had earlier received intelligence about the gang’s activities and accordingly laid a trap under the guidance of Senior Police Inspector Prithviraj Ghorpade. The team, including API Yogesh Deshmukh and Police Constable Anil Mandoḷe, posed as customers to initiate the bust.

Investigations revealed that the two rescued women had been sent for prostitution by two other agents, identified as Kamesh and Kurban Ansari, who are currently absconding.

“We have registered a case under relevant sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act at the APMC Police Station. We are continuing efforts to locate and apprehend the remaining members of the trafficking network,” a police officer from AHTU said.

Mumbai: Police have busted a child trafficking racket after rescuing a six-day-old boy in Mumbai and arrested four persons, including his parents, an official said on Thursday.

Based on credible information about child trafficking, social activist Dr Binu Varghese alerted the police.

About The Case

Acting on the inputs, the police caught two women red-handed while accepting Rs 4.5 lakh for child trafficking and rescued the newborn on Wednesday night, the official from Shivaji Nagar police station said.

It also came to light that Rs 1 lakh had already been paid as advance to the child’s parents, the police said.

The Shivaji Nagar police arrested four persons — Nazima Sheikh alias Nasreen, Fatima Mehmoobali and the child’s parents Irfan Khan and Sumaiya Khan.

A case was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including 143(3) (trafficking), against these four persons and an alleged mastermind of the racket, who is a relative of a local history-sheeter, the official said.

All the accused are residents of Shivaji Nagar, the police added.