Investigators say there could be more cases, but some parents are not willing to press charges as they don't want to traumatise their daughters again
Rehan Qureshi told the police that he has abused more children than he can count since 2015
Serial child rapist Rehan Qureshi has probably abused close to 100 children. By his own admission, since his first attempt in 2015, he would target 10-12 children every month and managed to prey on at least one or two of them. He confessed that he had attempted to rape so many children at so many different spots that he couldn't even remember all of them. He had even told his mother that he was attracted to children, but she did not take him seriously, said police sources.
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At the time of his arrest, the police suspected Rehan Qureshi's involvement in 15 cases of rape and molestation (with 16 survivors). This figure has already gone up to 19 in the two days since his arrest. So far, the police have registered three new cases against him at Goregaon, Bhoiwada and Tulinj, based on his confessions. During a search of his house, the cops also found a bail receipt from 2015, when he was first arrested for a molestation case. Following this, Qureshi admitted that he first began preying on kids in 2015, and not 2016 as was previously believed.
Rehan Qureshi had also been arrested for molestation in 2015, which the police learnt after searching his house
During interrogation, Qureshi confessed his involvement in several other cases of child abuse. He told the Navi Mumbai police that he would target 10-12 minors every month and would be successful anywhere between one to three times a month. Officers said they are verifying his claims and are now going through all undetected cases since 2015 in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Palghar to verify his involvement.
Navi Mumbai DCP (Crime) Tushar Doshi said, "Our team is collecting data of all the unsolved cases of rape, molestation and kidnapping since 2015 from all over Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Palghar to verify his involvement."
Can't recall all his victims
"He confessed that he had attempted to rape children so many times at so many spots, that he couldn't even remember all of them. For every 10 to 15 attempts, he would succeed a couple of times. When he succeeded in a few times, he started doing it again and again," said one of the officers.
He told the cops that he would keep an eye on each girl for a minimum two to three days before making them a target. He also confessed to assaulting children in Goregaon, Bhoiwada and most recently in Tulinj, Nalasopara, where he abused three minors on September 13, 20 and 21. In the latest case that took place on September 21, he tried to drag a 12-year-old girl away, but when she screamed, he fled from the spot. As she was scared, her parents only approached the police on September 26 to register a complaint. The police checked the CCTV footage and spotted him running from the station towards his home. So they laid a trap. One of the things that helped the cops identify him were his chappals, which he was wearing at the crime scene and at the time of his arrest.
The Bhoiwada case took place in 2016, when he took an eight-year-old and raped her in an isolated building. Investigators said they strongly suspect his involvement in some more cases, but the survivors' families had refused to cooperate. DCP Doshi added, "When we tried to reach the families of the victims in some of the cases, they refused to help us, stating that they do not wish to put their daughter through all the trauma again."
He told his mother
According to officers, his family had been trying to arrange his marriage. Thrice, they found a match for him, but each time it got ruined for some reason or the other. One of the officers from Navi Mumbai police said, "He is acting smart. He speaks English fluently and gives clever answers to our questions. He knew what he was doing all these years. He told us that when his mother tried to arrange his marriage recently, he told her that he liked little girls. But his mother didn't take him seriously."
Sources said, "He told us that since childhood, he had noticed that girls are scared of insects. That is how he would get the girls to strip, by telling them that there was an insect inside their clothes. He told us very casually, 'I just wanted to scare them.'"
Also Read: Mumbai: Paedophile Who Raped Kids Remorseless, Family Devastated
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