Two employees of a privately run swimming pool in Lampur, near Narela in north Delhi, have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping two nine-year-old girls and keeping them confined in the pool premises overnight. The crime took place on August 5 but was reported to police only days later, after the frightened victims finally disclosed their ordeal, Hindustan Times reported.
The arrested men have been identified as Anil Kumar, 37, who worked as a contractor at the facility, and Munil Kumar, 24, the pool’s caretaker. The pool, known as MK Swimming Pool, is located close to the Lampur bus stand near Delhi’s border with Haryana. It is owned by a man named Pawan, who, according to investigators, had no involvement in the incident. Although the pool was not fully operational, it was still accessible to some locals, and the two victims had visited it before.
According to police, both girls lived with their families in a Bawana slum. On the day of the incident, one of the girls had been playing at her aunt’s house when she, her friend, and a 12-year-old girl decided to go to the swimming pool without telling their families. While the older girl returned home later that day, the two nine-year-olds did not.
According to one of the victim’s mother, her daughter returned home around 5 am the next day but initially did not disclose the assault. “We frantically searched for my daughter in the neighbourhood but could not find her. Before we could approach the police, she returned home… When I asked her where she was the entire night, she told me that an ‘uncle’ at the swimming pool had locked her and another girl in a room there. However, but she didn’t reveal the rape out of fear,” HT quoted the mother as saying.
The traumatised girls remained silent for two days as the accused had allegedly threatened to kill them if they spoke about the assault. It was only on August 7 that one of the girls confided in her aunt, who then informed the parents.
The families went to Narela police station, where their complaint led to the registration of an FIR on August 9. The case was booked under Sections 70 (gang rape), 127 (wrongful confinement), and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Sections 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 10 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“The girl told her mother that this uncle, who was later identified as Anil Kumar, asked her to pay him for using the swimming pool. When she told him that she had no money, he locked her in a room with the other victim. Thereafter, he allegedly raped both the girls. Around the same time, the other man (Munil Kumar), also arrived and allegedly raped the two girls as well. The two men kept them confined in the room for the entire night and threatened to kill them if they told their families about the rape. They finally released the two girls at around 4.30 am on Wednesday,” a police official was quoted by HT as saying.
“We arrested the two accused after following due procedure. Their interrogation led to the recovery of critical evidence such as a pillow cover, bedsheet and two empty condom packets. We also seized the digital video recorder (DVR) of the swimming pool for evidence gathering purposes,” HT quoted Deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Hareshwar V Swami said, adding that the girls’ medical examinations were conducted, and their statements were recorded before a judicial magistrate.
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