Sexual assault of minor girl: Absconding pastor arrested Tamil Nadu

RANIPET: A 54-year-old pastor, who absconded after he was booked on charges of sexually assaulting a girl, was arrested in Ranipet on Thursday, almost five months after he was booked.

The arrested pastor has been identified as M Ragu Rajkumar, who established a church in Eri Theru in Ranipet.

Police said Rajkumar sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, who used to go to church, on several occasions. He threatened her not to reveal the incidents to anyone.

The girl’s mother noticed a change in her behaviour and questioned her only to be startled by her revelations. The girl narrated the ordeals she had gone through at the hands of the pastor.

Her mother lodged a complaint with the Ranipet all-woman police station in December last year. The pastor absconded after learning that police had booked him.

Police booked the pastor under sections 7 (sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault), 9 (aggravated sexual assault) and 9 (l) (whoever commits sexual assault on the child more than once or repeatedly) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 and Section 506 (ii) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and launched a hunt for him.

A police team arrested him from his hideout on Thursday night. Police arrested him and produced him before a local court, which sent him in judicial custody.


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