Patna: A special investigation team (SIT) of Bihar police Tuesday arrested a man accused of sexually abusing a "Dalit" — or lower- caste, also known untouchable — girl.
The police also arrested his father Krishna Bihari Prasad Sinha, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
The main accused Nikhil Priyadharshi, also charged with running a sex racket along with a Congress vice-president, was nabbed from Pauri Garhwal region in northern Indian state of Uttarakhand while they were on way to a temple in a car.
Priyadharshi has been on the run since last December after a case was registered with Patna police by the girl.
The victim, daughter of a former Congress minister, had come in to contact with the accused following a missed call on her number. Subsequently, the accused allegedly befriended the victim after frequent chatting over phone. After gaining her confidence, Priyadharshi reportedly called her to his residence and sexually exploited her on the pretext of marrying her. Later, he began using a video clip of his sexual encounter with the girl to blackmail her until she finally decided to register a police case against him.
His arrest is likely to throw light on a sex racket in which many high-profile people are said to be involved. It is alleged the accused had been supplying girls to politicians outside Bihar. A local court had rejected his bail petition last week keeping in view of serious charges levelled against him.
The whole issue took a curious turn last fortnight when the victim also accused a former state Congress vice-president Brajesh Pandey of sexually exploiting her. Since then, Pandey who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections in Bihar has gone underground after the police registered a case against him.
Police said the fugitive had been charged under the stringent law on sexual crime against children, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, and Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case was registered last month with the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Police station in Patna after the investigating police found the charges prima facie true. According to the victim, the Priyadarshi lured her in the name of marriage and then sexually abused her along with the co-accused. “The accused persons have wide contacts with many political bigwigs in Delhi and wanted to supply me to them,” the victim alleged adding the Congress leader even sexually physically tortured her when she refused their proposal.
