RAJKOT: A week after a 16-year-old girl was rescued from the Hotel Park Inn in the city, the minor girl’s mother lodged a complaint of rape against Santosh Kumar Kushwaha, who held the girl captive in the hotel and allegedly raped her several times.
The rape survivor and the accused belong to the same village in Uttar Pradesh.
Santosh is on the run.
The minor was rescued last week after the Pradhymannagar police was tipped off about her by a Mumbai-based NGO.
Police had stumbled upon a prostitution racket that was flourishing in the hotel for several months and found a woman from Maharashtra too who was brought her for flesh trade.
After the girl was rescued, she had first refused to lodge any complaint against Santosh and she was sent to a protection home for girls where she was counselled.
She later agreed to lodge a complaint and her 56-year-old mother filed a complaint against Santosh who was booked under relevant sections fo of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.
The girl and her mother, who are natives of Aligarh in UP had come to Rajkot to stay with her son in the city.
The girl’s brother could not accommodate them in his room.
Santosh, who runs a factory in Aji Dam area, gave them a room near his unit.
“Santosh allegedly raped her in the room where she was staying and later eloped with her.
Two months ago, he returned and started living in Hotel Park Inn and she was found,” police said.
Separately, police have booked the hotel’s owner Himanshu Mehta for allowing the immoral activity that was carried out by Prabhudas Kakad and Jayshree Chavda.
Hotel’s manager Mehul Chotalia too was arrested on the basis of the Maharashtra woman’s statement.