Mumbai: Rape accused flees COVID-19 quarantine centre; held again

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A 22-year-old rape accused, who was kept under quarantine at a COVID Care Centre in Malad East, managed to escape during the wee hours of Saturday. However, in less than two days of being informed about his escape, the Dindoshi police traced him to Malvani Ambujwadi area and arrested him once again.

Police had booked Ashok Ramnarayan Harijan, alias Jaiswal, in a rape case last month. Sources said he had eloped with a 16-year-old girl, following which her family had filed a complaint. On July 28, the Malvani police caught him and made the girl undergo a medical test, which revealed that she had been raped. He was booked under Sections 363 and 376 of IPC and various sections of POCSO Act. The Dindoshi sessions court on July 29 sent him to police custody, during which he tested COVID-19 positive. On August 3, he was sent to Nirmala College of Commerce and Science quarantine centre.

Last Saturday, he broke the iron grill of window of his fourth floor room, used bed sheets as a rope and escaped. Police were informed the next morning during the shift change.

Dindoshi detection officer PSI Yogesh Kanherkar and his team traced him to Malvani Ambujwadi and arrested him. "We have booked and arrested him under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful appre­hension) of IPC and a case has been filed at Dindoshi police station," said a police officer.

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