Mumbai: Andheri police arrested auto-rickshaw driver Pardeshi Prajapati (36) in Mira Road on Aug 22, nearly two years after he allegedly sexually assaulted a schoolgirl, then aged 16, and fled Mumbai in Oct 2024. Police traced a call Prajapati made to his wife using a new SIM obtained with a friend’s documents. The friend’s name appeared on Truecaller, helping investigators identify Prajapati’s alias and location through technical analysis.
The girl’s father filed the case on Oct 9, 2024. Police said Prajapati took the minor to Pune on Oct 4 and Oct 14, 2024, and established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage. He is sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Because he earned only Rs 150 a day in his village, insufficient to support his five children, against Rs 500 to Rs 700 daily in Mumbai and Thane region, he told police he returned.
Police said Prajapati and his family had deleted their social media history, discarded old mobile phones and SIMs, and obtained new SIMs using documents belonging to friends and relatives. He worked as a driver using a rented rickshaw,” said an Andheri police officer. “A chargesheet was submitted 60 days after the FIR and the court first issued non-bailable warrant before declaring him as a proclaimed absconder,” said senior inspector Umesh Machinder.
His family allegedly helped him hide and alerted him when police visited his Uttar Pradesh village. “Prajapati allegedly returned to Thane rural area believing police were searching for him in Uttar Pradesh. He allegedly dropped her near her Andheri home, handed his rickshaw to a friend and left Mumbai after learning that an FIR had been registered. Assistant inspector Ramdas Kadam even found out that Prajapati’s family supported him in hiding after learning about the crime and even tipped him off about the police team in UP to nab him. He was booked under BNS provisions for aggravated sexual assault, sexual relations established by trickery and kidnapping, and under Pocso Act .
The accused was produced before Dindoshi court on Thursday after he completed five days police custody.