more-in R. Rishipal Singh (63), a resident of North Masi Street here, has been arrested by Madurai city police for alleged rape and continuous sexual exploitation of an 18-year-old orphaned girl, who was working as a maid at his residence. The case, originally registered by the police in Kerala, where the accused had taken the girl in May and from where the girl made an escape, has now been transferred to the Thilagar Thidal police since the crime took place here. Police sources said that the girl from Delhi lost her parents in an accident when she was a toddler and grew up under the custody of another family there. She was later sent to work in the home of another woman even as a child. When the girl was around 13 years, the woman sent her to work as a maid at her brother Rishipal Singh’s house here. According to the information provided by the girl to Kerala police, the man raped her for the first time by providing her a sedative mixed in juice, when his family was away in January. Over the next two months, when his family remained away, the man allegedly continued to sexually exploit her multiple times. The first information report states that when the girl eventually informed the family about the incident, they pleaded with her not go to the police. Under the pretext of dropping the girl back in Delhi, the accused reportedly took her to Kanniyakumari and later to Thiruvananthapuram and informed her that he intended to marry her. The girl escaped from his custody at Thiruvananthapuram railway station and ended up in the government-run Mahila Mandiram there, police said. The accused filed a missing complaint with the local police, who later traced the girl. On knowing from enquiry that she was raped, the police altered it to a case of rape and transferred it to Madurai city police.

Stay updated with all the Latest Madurai headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.