The vacation court on Friday extended the police custody of Janardan Ambekar, a 52-year-old constable from Tardeo police station, who was arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl.
Ambekar was arrested in the last week of December when a first information report was registered against him. The police had also booked him under various sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The accused was produced before vacation judge A.S. Mahatme where the public prosecutor sought his further custody on the ground that the investigation in the case was on, the crime is of serious nature and the investigating officer required his police custody to investigate the matter. Accepting the arguments, the judge extended Ambekar’s police custody till January 4.
The incident came to light when an acquaintance noticed a change in the girl’s behaviour. He then asked the girl what the problem was, to which she narrated the ordeal. The man then took her to the Tardeo police station. Initially, the girl was scared to speak up, but was put at ease by women police officers.
Based on the girl’s complaint, the police has lodged an FIR against Ambekar. After Ambekar’s arrest, a senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, had said that the accused was undisciplined and would often bunk work without informing his seniors.
The complainant, while registering her complaint, had broken down in the police station and narrated before women police officers the trauma she went through.
According to sources, the accused was in a live-in relationship with the complainant’s mother for six years. She has two more children, younger to the survivor. The victim’s mother stays in a slum with her children and had lost her husband.
Ambekar is married but had frequent fights with his wife and would live separately. Whenever her mother — with whom Ambekar had a good relationship — was not at home, the constable would allegedly kiss her and undress her and had raped her almost a month ago, the complainant said.
