india

Updated: Aug 29, 2019 17:06 IST

A 52-year-old man in Gujarat’s Surat was arrested for allegedly raping two minor cousins repeatedly for the last six months. The villagers, who handed over Mohammad Sheikh to cops, claimed to have recorded the crime as the evidence.

On Wednesday, the residents of Taiyebi Mohalla in Surat city forcibly took Mohammad Sheikh to the police station and handed him over to the cops along with a video proof that purportedly contained the confession of the two minors and the act of crime.

“A group of people arrived at Sabaltpura police station and produced evidence in the form of a video clip. Based on their statements and other proofs, Sheikh has been arrested under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act,” police inspector VJ Chaudhary said.

Junai Bordiwala, a resident, said that “Some people in the area suspected that Sheikh use to forcibly take his two cousins, 11 and 12-year-old, to his factory on the outskirts of locality and raped them.”

On August 24, when he had taken one of the girls to the factory, some of his neighbours followed him and recorded the crime on a mobile phone to produce as the evidence before the police. “After we had evidence, we spoke to the girl who said that Sheikh had threatened to kill them if they shared their plight with other residents,” Bordiwala added.

“Sheikh should be given harshest punishment. He is married, has two daughters and a son, who is engaged to be married soon… how he could do this to the little girls,” said another resident, Sayrabanu Sopariwala.

The residents claimed that Sheikh’s wife slapped him in the public after he was caught red-handed on August 24.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Sheikh initially lured the girls to go with him to the factory by offering chocolates. But when the girls refused, he started threatening to kill them if they did not listen to him.

The girls have been sent for medical checkup and treatment, police said.