MUMBAI: A nattily-dressed serial sex rapist in his 20s has the police on its toes. The accused, who is wanted by the Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mumbai police since April last year, has now been captured on CCTV cameras in Tuling and Nalasopara, where two rape cases were reported in the last fortnight. The police said the accused has around nine sexual assault cases against him. In the recent Nalasopara cases, the accused allegedly sexually abused two minor girls, aged 13 and 15.On Saturday, the Nalasopara police began circulating images of the suspect and started awareness programmes in schools, colleges and at stations. Nalasopara deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Datta Totewad said Ganesh mandals and auto drivers have been roped in to look for the suspect. “We have increased vigil at stations as the accused seems to travel by trains.” His image has also been circulated on social media platforms.Explaining the accused’s modus operandi, the police said he approaches girls at their homes and takes them away on the pretext of “collecting a parcel for their father”. The police said that most of the times, he approaches girls alone at home or convinces the mothers to send the minors with him. Cops have appealed to the public to not entertain such people.On September 13, the accused targeted a 13-year-old girl in Tuling, Nalasopara, minutes after she was dropped at home by her shopowner father. The man went to the girl’s house and said her father, who had returned to his shop, had asked him to bring her to pick up some goods. The girl went along and her mother too did not suspect foul play. The accused took the girl to the a residential building’s terrace and told her there was an insect on her dress. He scared her by saying that the insect bite would cause cancer and asked her to remove her dress. As the girl was removing her dress, he gagged her and raped her. He later dropped her near her house and fled.On September 20, he used the same modus on the 15-yearold daughter of an auto driver. He approached the girl at her home and told her that a letter had arrived for her father at his shop. The girl went along but when the accused tried the insect story on her, she girl raised an alarm and fled.While probing the cases, the police found one man to be present at both locations. Tuling police station inspector J B Suryavanshi said this was the same man wanted by the Navi Mumbai police. Cops said the two girls too confirmed he was the same man. The police said the man was last spotted on CCTV camera in Turbhe in July after he raped a minor.

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