An absconding accused wanted in a rape and POCSO case has been arrested from Uttarakhand after months on the run, the police said on Friday.
The case was registered on April 4, 2026, after a 21-year-old woman approached the Welcome police station alleging that she was sexually assaulted in 2023 by a man who threatened her with a pistol.
The woman alleged that the accused recorded a video of the assault and later used it to blackmail her. She further claimed that he repeatedly sexually exploited her, stalked her while she attended tuition classes, and threatened her and her family with dire consequences.
Based on her complaint, the police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for rape, stalking, criminal intimidation and other offences.
The police found that the woman was a minor at the time of the alleged offence. Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was subsequently added to the case. The police said the accused had been absconding since the case was registered. Investigators tracked him through technical surveillance, call detail record (CDR) analysis, social media monitoring and local intelligence, while conducting raids at suspected hideouts. Non-bailable warrants had been issued against him and proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender had also been initiated. Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided Bhagwanpur in Uttarakhand and arrested the 26-year-old accused, a resident of Welcome in northeast Delhi. The police said verification revealed his previous involvement in cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and gambling.
