Condition of child rape victim improving; Second accused held

New Delhi, April 22: Showing signs of gradual recovery, the five-year-old child, who was raped allegedly by her neighbour, has started taking liquids and semi-solid food and her wounds have started to heal, doctors said on Monday.

D.K Sharma, Medical Superintendent of AIIMS where the girl is undergoing treatment since Friday evening, told reporters that she has shown "signs of gradual recovery".

"Her perineal wounds was re-dressed yesterday and the wounds have started to heal. However, it may take a few more days to heal completely," he said.

She is being monitored regularly by a team of specialist doctors, he said.
On Sunday, the doctors said that there was "no danger" to her life though it will take another two weeks to discharge her from the hospital.

She is responding well to the anti-biotics given to her, they had said, adding the victim has undergone colostomy procedure and surgical care of perennial injuries.

The girl was raped on April 15 in a building in east Delhi's Gandhinagar locality where the victim and accused Manoj lived and she was rescued 40 hours later on April 17.

Meanwhile, the second accused in the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in the national capital was arrested from his maternal uncle's house in Bihar's Lakhisarai district on Monday.

A Delhi Police team with the help of Bihar Police Special Task Force arrested Pradeep Kumar from his maternal uncle's residence in Barahiya village, where he was hiding, Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Abhayanand said.

Pradeep Kumar was produced before Lakhisarai Chief Judicial Magistrate Vishnu Dev Upadhay who sent him to transit remand.

A large crowd had gathered near the court and the police had a tough time in controlling the crowd.

Kumar is a native of Darbhanga district in Bihar and his name surfaced in the case on the basis of interrogation of prime accused Manoj.

Superintendent of Police of Lakhisarai district Rajeev Mishra, who interrogated him,said Kumar "admitted" to his crime during the interrogation.

In the national capital, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said that Kumar "will be brought to the national capital today after getting a transit remand from Darbhanga court."

Manoj, who was arrested on Saturday from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, had told police during interrogation that one of his friends was also involved in the crime.

The girl was raped on April 15 in a building in east Delhi's Gandhinagar locality where the victim and accused Manoj lived and she was rescued 40 hours later on April 17.

Sources said Manoj told his interrogators that on April 15, his friend Pradeep had come to his house and they had consumed alcohol. Manoj claimed that Pradeep insisted on bringing a girl to the house and he went out and lured the girl with a chocolate, sources said.

Manoj also told police that he did not sexually assault the girl, they said. He had also claimed that they fled from the house after strangulating her to avoid being identified later and thought that she was dead, they said.