Maha: Man on run for raping teenage girl in Thane district held after four years

A 31-year-old man on the run for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl in 2019 was arrested after four years from Bhayandar in Thane district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

A case of rape and kidnapping was registered against the man on March 4, 2019, days after the teenage girl went missing from her home in Mira Road locality. Police also added sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Child Marriage Restraint Act as the accused married the victim.

The girl was later traced by the police and reunited with her parents but the accused went absconding, a police official said.

Police received a tip-off that the accused had been living in Bhayandar and arrested him two days back, he said.