Mumbai Crime: 60-year-old rapes beggar girl, gets 10 years in jail

Qureshi, was arrested from Uttarakhand where he had gone for a religious tour

The Sessions Court convicted Afzal Qureshi, 60, for raping a 12-year-old inside his video game parlour and recording it on his cell phone, in November 2017. Qureshi has been sent to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The then investigating officer, inspector Sudarshan Honwadajkar said, " The accused was arrested from Uttarakhand in just three days after the case was registered. He first fled to Delhi and then to Uttarakhand," said Honwadajkar, who is now posted at Sion police station.

One of the officers privy to the investigation said, "The survivor used to live in JJ Marg with her parents before shifting to Mumbra. Her father is a cancer patient and mother did odd jobs and begged for a living. The survivor, too, is a beggar and would come to a mosque in the JJ Marg area every Friday." "One day, Qureshi, taking advantage of her helplessness, offered her food and then took her inside his parlour on the pretext of allowing her to play games for free. He then raped her. He had also recorded the deed on his cellphone, which he later transferred to a pen drive to watch at leisure," the officer said.

One day, Qureshi forgot to remove the pen drive from the hard disk. A customer saw the video in the pen drive and alerted locals, who thrashed Qureshi. Fearing arrest, Qureshi fled to Delhi, but the survivor's mother approached cops. After a long and exhaustive search, the police found Qureshi at a Jama Masjid in Uttarakhand, the officer recalled. During interrogation, Qureshi told the police that he had raped the girl twice already and was planning to rape her again. Evidence, including the pen drive, cellphone and statements of the girl and local residents helped JJ Marg police secure a conviction.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates