Kolkata: Eight-year-old lured with toffee, raped

Kolkata: A minor girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped in a car in Gairahat area on Friday night. The accused, Firoz Ahmed (32), was caught from the spot by a police patrol team after the victim screamed for help.

He was arrested later by the police on abduction and rape charges of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The Maruti car was also impounded by the.police.

Ahmed, a resident of Palm Avenue in Karaya, worked as a driver and cleaner. The 8-year-old victim, a Class 3 student, is his neighbour. She was playing in front of her home on Friday evening after returning from her private tuition at around 7.30 pm when Ahmed lured her with a chocolate and drove her in the car near Tagore Park in Ballygunge Place East, preliminary investigation revealed. He parked the car and raped the girl taking advantage of darkness at the end of the road.

The cops on patrol in the area halted beside the car after the victim cried out in pain. Ahmed was detained and the victim was rescued. The girl underwent medical examination at a hospital, which confirmed rape. A relative of the girl said, “we did not know where she was taken till a policeman informed us and asked us to visit the Gariahat police station.” The police has also collected the CCTV footage.

Ahmed was produced at the Alipore Court on Saturday, which remanded him in three days’ judicial custody. A senior officer of the Gariahat police station said that a prayer would made to the judge on Monday when the accused would be produced before him. “We need to interrogate him to get more details about his crime,” he said. Impounding the car the police however learnt that Ahmed neither owned nor drove it. He only cleaned it, sources revealed.

In another incident, a youth was arrested on Friday night for attempting to rape a Class 4 student in New Town two days ago. Shyamal Das, the accused, runs a shop at Adarshapally. He took the girl inside his shop on April 20 afternoon when her mother sent her to buy some items. Das then molested her and attempted to rape her while threatening her with dire consequences. The incident came to light when the girl narrated the ordeal to her mother later. Her family lodged a complaint at the New Town police station the next day. Angry locals vandalised Das’s house.