Minor's rape accused was earlier booked for trespassing

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The accused in the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi is also involved in a property trespass case in an east Delhi locality, police said Friday.

"Manoj Kumar, 25, is involved in a case of trespassing in the same area (Gandhi Nagar) following a property dispute with his father, who later disowned him and asked him to leave the house," a police officer told IANS.

"The father of the accused had lodged a case of trespassing in 2010 in Gandhi Nagar police station. Manoj was arrested and later released on bail," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police D.K. Gupta told IANS.

Manoj, who doubles up as a tailor and a labourer, is a native of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district.

He had taken a room on rent on the ground floor in the same building in which the rape victim's family lives on the first floor.

The girl was abducted Monday afternoon while she was playing outside the house.

"Not finding her daughter, her 23-year-old mother informed her husband and they approached the police," Nisha, 30, a neighbour, told IANS.

According to Nisha, Manoj's room was locked and nobody thought that the girl was inside.

A neighbour heard the wails of the girl Wednesday morning, and sensing something suspicious, informed her family members, who then broke open the door and found the victim.

"Her condition was very serious. She was crying and needed help," said Nisha.

Police have registered cases against Manoj for kidnapping, rape, attempt to murder and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, at Gandhi Nagar police station.