A 24-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping and trying to strangle two girls, aged six and eight respectively, at Bawana, the police said on Tuesday.
The mother of one of the victims told the police that after the assault, the girls pretended to be dead, so that the accused would not do more harm to them.
The girls went missing on Friday after which their families launched a frantic search for them. Subsequently, the police were informed.
At around 4.45 am on Saturday, the family members of the girls found some clothes from a park in the area.
Subsequently, the girls were also found from the park in a “bad condition”, the police said, adding that they were rushed to a hospital.
The girls told the police that they were raped by a neighbour, who had lured them on the pretext of giving candies.
The accused saw the girls on Friday and gave them a Rs 100 note to get him medicines from a nearby shop.
They could not find the medicine he had asked for.
Subsequently, the accused asked them to accompany him to another shop and promised to buy them sweets, the police said.
By then, the elder sister of one of the victims grew suspicious about the accused. When she questioned him, he slapped her, gave her Rs 5 and told her to leave the girls with him.
He then took the girls to the park where he allegedly sexually assaulted them and thrashed them, the police said.
The accused also tried to strangle the girls and left them in a pit.
The victims could not tell the name of the accused to the police but said they had seen him in the neighbourhood.
The police questioned the locals on the basis of the description of the accused provided by the girls. The accused was arrested from the area on Saturday itself.
The girls are currently admitted at the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
“Their condition is stable. They have been kept under observation,” said Dr Punita Mahajan, the Medical Superintendent of the hospital.
