45-year-old who raped niece for over a year held

A 45-year-old man has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping his niece for a period of one year from south east Delhi's Jamia Nagar area, police said.

According to police on Monday, the accused was the uncle of the girl and has been arrested under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and appropriate sections of POCSO Act.

The police had received the official complaint in April. The accused at that time was visiting his relatives in Malda district in West Bengal.

By the time the police raiding party reached Malda, he had fled the area. He was later arrested on Sunday evening from Delhi.

According to police, the girl had told them that she was repeatedly raped for a period of one year by the accused who used to visit her house frequently. The ten-year-old girl could not muster the courage to report the matter to her parents as she was threatened with dire consequences.

"The family of the girl lived in Jodhpur jhuggi in Jamia Nagar. Since the man was related to the girl nobody from the family suspected his role. He had visited the girl whenever her parents were not around. The girl finally opened up in April when the accused had left for Malda," said a senior police official privy to the investigation.

Despite the fact that several raids were conducted over the past few months, the accused managed to evade the police.

He is currently being interrogated after which he will be produced before a local court.