Mumbai: 32-year-old man arrested for rape, two others held for bid to sell minor

Two persons have been arrested for trying to sell a minor girl to a 32-year-old man for Rs 2 lakh, police said Tuesday. The man, who is alleged to have raped the 16-year-old girl, has also been arrested, police said.

According to Mankhurd police, the man was a vendor and was known to the minor’s 25-year-old sister. In July, the man had told her that he was looking for a woman to marry. The vendor, whose previous marriage had not worked out, said he would be able to inherit his parents’ property only if he got married again, Senior Inspector Prakash Choughule of Mankhurd police station said. “He also told the minor’s sister that he was willing to pay Rs 2 lakh to anyone who could introduce him to such a woman,” the officer said.

The woman told her husband about the offer and they discussed the prospect of introducing the vendor to the 16-year-old girl, an officer said. They, however, did not inform the girl’s mother about it.

On August 2, the couple took the minor to the vendor’s residence in the western suburbs where the latter is alleged to have raped the girl on the pretext of talking to her separately, police said.

After they returned home, the girl told her mother about the incident, who approached the Mankhurd police earlier this week and a case was on charges of rape, human trafficking of a minor, in addition to relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act was registered.

“The three persons were arrested on the basis of the complaint and are currently in police custody,” an officer said.