Police have arrested a man, who had been on the run for the past few months after being booked for allegedly repeatedly raping his 22-year-old daughter and impregnating her in Palghar district of Maharashtra, an official said on Saturday.
His daughter, whom the accused raped multiple times in 2021, died in November last year at a hospital during her tuberculosis treatment, he said.
"The 53-year-old accused resided in Nalasopara. He was on the run since the last several months after a case was registered against him for allegedly raping his daughter between 2021 and November 2023. He also impregnated the victim and thrashed her, which led to her miscarriage," senior inspector Pramod Badakh said.
"The victim was admitted to a hospital in a serious condition on November 14 last year for treatment of tuberculosis. However, she died there on the same day," he said, adding that her mother then complained about the accused.
The complainant alleged that besides her daughter, the accused beat her up as well.
Based on a complaint, an offence was registered at the Nalasopara police station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 376(2)(n) (repeated rape on the same woman), 354A (sexual harassment), 342 (wrongful confinement), 312 (causing miscarriage), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) in November last year, he said.
The crime branch formed a special team to trace the accused and the team members worked on several leads before finally nabbing him from Virar township in the district on February 7, the official said.
During his interrogation, it came to light that the accused kept changing places. He was hiding in Aurangabad and Mumbai, he added.
