60-year-old remanded in cop custody for raping minor

Mumbai: A special POCSO court on Friday remanded a 60-year-old man in police custody till February 25 in a rape case. According to her complaint, the 16-year-old victim had left her house in anger and met the accused at Panvel railway station, where the accused lured her by offering a job but took her to a lodge and raped her.

The prosecution case is that on February 13, a lady working as a sweeper at Mazagaon Dock filed a missing complaint of her younger daughter with the Sewri police station.

She told the police that when she was on duty her elder daughter had scolded the victim for returning late from public toilet. Due to this the victim got angry and left home.

Next day, the Sewri police received information about the victim from Panvel police. The police then learnt that when the victim reached Panvel station at around 5.30 pm, an old man approached her to whom she told that she was an orphan.

The man, identified as Ganesh Shetty (60), told her about a vacancy for nursing a patient. Shetty took her to watch a movie and later left her in the waiting room at Panvel station saying he would receive her the next day.

The next morning, Shetty took her to Jui Nagar and raped her in a lodge. He then took her back to Panvel railway station and left saying that he would get food.

The victim narrated the whole incident to two policemen, who arrested the accused when he returned.