Man arrested for sodomising 12-year-old boy in Maha's Thane

A 48-year-old man was arrested in Thane city for allegedly sodomising a minor, police said Tuesday.

Police identified the accused as Ravindra Sharma, a resident of Hanuman Nagar in Wagle Estate area of the city.

A Shrinagar police station official said the 12-year-old victim had gone out to play with his friends on Monday.

"Concerned that he had not returned home even after a long time, the victim's mother went looking for him and heard him crying inside a house in the neighbourhood," the official said.

"The boy on seeing his mother ran out of the house crying. She found the accused in an objectionable condition inside the house. She raised an alarm and alerted neighbours who pinned down the accused," he added.

Sharma was brought to the police station by residents where a case under section 377 (carnal intercourse against the order of nature) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said.