Soumitra Nandi
Kolkata: Acting on a tip off from a school girl complaining of sexual assault, officers of Taltala police station in Central Kolkata apprehended a person who has been allegedly indulging in sexual intercourse with school girls mainly minors luring them by offering money. Ashish Kedia was arrested from his residence at Kestopur in Baguihati on Friday night.
According to sources, a class VIII girl clad in school uniform turned up at the Talatala police station on Thursday late afternoon complaining that a person had indulged in sexual intercourse with her sometime in January this year. However, the victim could not provide the whereabouts of the exact place of where he was sexually abused or who was the person responsible for the crime.
The sleuths started their work immediately and cultivating sources, they came to know that a person running a CD shop at S.N. Banerjee Road nearby has been performing such nuisance activities for a considerable period of time.
The shop was raided and a number of porn and blue film CD’s were recovered from the shop. Further investigation revealed that the accused will target girls hailing from lower middle class families. “He would tell them to come to his shop for cleaning and packing of CDs with the promise to give them Rs 200 to 300. The poor girls will turn up and he will do sexual intercourse with them and would also pay the promised amount. He would also tell them not to inform anybody and threatened them of dire consequences,” said an investigating officer.
The girl who turned up at the police station on Thursday later afternoon had told some of her school friends about her experience in the months of January. Some of her friends encouraged her to go to the police station and inform the cops. Another girl of the same school also came and complained of her bitter experience in the evening itself.
“Though the case has been initiated on the basis of the complaint by these two girls, but investigation revealed that a number of girls had been victims of this sexual lust of 40 year old Kedia,” said D.P. Singh, deputy commissioner (Central).
The accused was produced at the City Sessions Court on Friday and was remanded to police custody till March 17. He has been booked under POCSO Act.