Criminal arrested for rape makes sensational revelation of over 500 rapes in 12 years

New Delhi: The confessions of a paedophile arrested by the Delhi police on Sunday for raping a minor girl has caused a sensation. His confessions of sexually abusing a staggering 500 minor girls and attempting to assault 2,500 girls in the last 12 years have baffled the Delhi police. He has committed these infuriating crimes not only in Delhi but it is now coming to light that he has also committed similar acts of sexual abuse on many girls in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. This has raised a serious question of how this criminal has managed to elude the police system for so many years while openly committing such acts.

On 13th of December in the last month, the local police had registered a complaint of sexual assault of a minor girl by an unknown person in Delhi‘s New Ashok Nagar area. Thereafter, two more complaints of rape on minor girls aged 9 and 10 in the same area were registered by the police in the last week on the 7th of January. The victimised girls had informed that the assaulter had sported a red jacket in each of the three complaints. Based on this information, while examiningutter the CCTV footages and old records of criminals involved in similar crimes, the police spotted a suspicious person wearing a red jacket in one of the CCTV footages. One of the victims identified him in the footage. Following this incident, the police set up a trap and arrested this monster.

The accused has been identified as Sunil Rastogi. He hails from the Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh and is a tailor by profession. He is married and has two daughters himself. He was arrested on Sunday after which he confessed to have raped nearly 13 minor girls during the preliminary investigation. However, there were major discrepancies found in his statement. Likewise, Rastogi gave inconceivable reasons that bad tendencies would enter his body every time he wore the red jacket and then would compel him to commit such crimes. Judging by his overall behaviour, the police were sure of their suspicion of his involvement in such similar crimes.

Hence, the police began a thorough investigation against him which lead to a shocking and agitating revelation. He has confessed to have assaulted nearly five to six hundred girls in the last 12 years and has attempted similar assaults on a staggering 2,500 girls.

Sunil Rastogi’s modus operandi included travelling by train from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, targeting small school going girls within the age group of 10 to 13 and then striking a conversation with them for some or the other reason. He would then lure the girls by telling them that they had been called by their father or by promising them a new dress. Following this he would take them to secluded places and assault them and return to Uttar Pradesh by train once again. He has committed several crimes in Delhi’s Ashok Nagar area. Likewise, he has sexually assaulted many girls in a similar manner in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and Rudrapur, Uttarakhand.

Previously, in 2006, Sunil Rastogi was arrested by the Uttarakhand police in Rudrapur on the charges of molestation and attempted rape and was imprisoned for 6 months. However, he began committing such crimes once again after his release, in Delhi and Ghaziabad. Rastogi was at leisure as no one had stepped forward to register a complaint in such cases due to fear of public stigma. In the year 2004, Rastogi had attempted to assault his landlord’s daughter, following which he was thrown out of that place.

Meanwhile, many questions have been raised due to this unbelievable confession. Why was this monster not caught by the police while committing such crimes for so many years? It is very clear how essential it has become for parents to stay vigilant when it comes to their kids. This incident has revived the memories of the Nithari Killings in Noida a few years ago, followed by the Nirbhaya case and the case involving over 30 rapes and murders in Delhi committed by a sadist in July, 2015. After the ‘Nirbhaya’ case, the laws were made stringent for women’s security and to curb the incidents of rape. In spite of this, it is evident from Sunil Rastogi’s revelations that the circumstances have not changed much.