Serial rapist arrested in Delhi

A 38-year-old serial rapist was arrested from Delhi's New Ashok Nagar for targeting minors girls aged between seven and eleven years on Sunday.

The accused Sunil Rastogi, who wore the same set of clothes - a 'red jacket' (which is considered lucky), used to come from Uttar Pradesh (UP) to Delhi by train and look for lone minor girls, kidnap and take them to under-construction buildings or isolated locations, rape them and then flee the city.

The rapist nearly targeted five hundred children over the last 13 years not only in Delhi but even in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

According to police, three cases of child rape and molestation under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) were registered in New Ashok Nagar police station on January 10 and 13.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Omvir Singh told the media that the accused is a clear case of paedophile, who is a tailor by profession and is married with children.

"The accused told police that he used to target minor girls. Whenever he would find any minor girl going to home from school, he used to mislead her on the pretext that her father had sent some clothes or some other articles to give her and take her to an isolated place," he said.

"During interrogation, he confessed he committed the alleged offences and also revealed he committed similar offences with other girls in New Ashok Nagar, Delhi, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand)," he added.

Singh said a team was formed to identify the man after another complaint was received on December 13.

Police scanned the CCTV footage of the area where Rastogi had raped the girls. Police were able to identify him but his face was not clearly visible. They spoke to the vendors and some of the victims and got a sketch made. They went door to door with the sketch. Finally, the accused was nabbed yesterday.