Booked in May for Goa minor's rape, Hyderabad man surrenders

Four months after being booked for allegedly raping a minor girl in Goa, a Hyderabad-based man surrendered before the police on Thursday and was subsequently placed under arrest, a senior official said on Friday.

Superintendent of Police (South) Arvind Gawas told reporters that the Margao police arrestedthe accused, 22-year -old Mohammad Ishaq, who surrendered before them.

He had been evading arrest for almost four months, he said.

"The man has been booked under section 376 of the IPC (rape), section 8 of the Goa Childrens Act (child abuse) and section 4 of the POCSO Act for repeatedly raping the minor girl for over two years, Gawas said.

Gawas said as per the complaint filed by the mother of the victim on May 24, the accused, a native of Hyderabad, had sexually abused her daughter several times at different places between May 2017 and January 2019.

In her complaint, the mother, a Goa resident, had said the accused use to follow her daughter while she went for tuitions and also clicked her objectionable pictures.

She said Ishaq used to blackmail the victim (whose age was not disclosed by the police) by threatening to make her pictures public and forced her to part with golden ornaments.

Gawas said the police had visited his home in Hyderabad several times, but could not trace him.

On Thursday, he surrendered before the Margao police after which he was placed under arrest, the SP added.