A religious leader has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl inside a Circuit House in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. The accused has been identified as Mahant Sitaram Das alias Sitaram Tripathi, a religious storyteller, police informed. The alleged rape survivor had in her complaint
One person was arrested earlier in the alleged rape case while two other accused in the incident are still absconding. “Till now, we have arrested two accused. One was arrested earlier and another called Mahant Sitaram Das alias Sitaram Tripathi was arrested on Thursday. We are searching to nab two other accused who are absconding. Further investigation is underway,” said SP Rewa Navneet Bhasin.
Bhasin further said that the accused Sitaram alias Samarth was arrested from Singrauli district in the evening while he was trying to escape. It was history sheeter Vinod Pandey who had called the minor from Satna district. How a room in circuit house was booked in the name of a history sheeter is also a part of our investigation.
All the four have been booked for gangrape and other relevant sections of IPC and also of the protection of children from sexual offences Act. Sources said that the accused Mahant claims that he is the grandchild of a religious leader and he also used to visit people by the same name and get his pictures clicked with them.
There are close to three dozen criminal cases that have been registered against Vinod Pandey. Pandey brought the minor to the circuit house, telling her that all problems in her life would end with the blessings of Mahant.
Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Kamal Nath condemned the rape incident stating that the culprits should be punished.
Taking to Twitter, Kamal Nath said, “The incident of gang-rape of a minor girl student by some people at a Circuit House in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh is highly condemnable.” “How the circuit house was allotted to these people, how there was a liquor party inside, it is a matter of investigation, the culprits should be punished,” he further tweeted.