Hyd police arrest army man for attempt to rape, find he's a serial sexual offender

The Hyderabad city police on Wednesday arrested an army soldier, who they claimed was a serial sexual offender, involved in a case of rape and attempt to rape.

The police said that the accused, identified as 32-year-old Brijesh Kumar Yadav, was working with the 54 Infantry Division Signal Regiment in the Secunderabad Cantonment and hailed from Bihar.

The incident for which he was arrested took place on July 23, around 8.45 pm. The police said that he had seriously assaulted a civilian and a police officer at Ammuguda, in the limits of the Trimulgherry Police Station.

At around 8.15 pm that day, 19-year-old Rani (name changed) and her boyfriend took shelter near the Koh-e-Imam Dargah near Ammuguda railway gate, as it was raining.

“The offender took advantage of the situation as the couple were in an isolated area. He assaulted the victim’s partner by punching him severely, because of which his tooth got broken, resulting in bleeding injuries. After this, he tried to pounce on the woman and attempted to rape her. He even pulled out a stem at the crime scene from a neem tree and beat the victim as well as the boy to cooperate,” the police said in a press release.

When the victim shouted for help and tried to escape, it was heard by a police patrol car, generally stationed on the road at the nearby Naga Devata Temple.

Three policemen who were present in the car ran towards the scene, chased the accused, who allegedly assaulted the constables also. In the process, he was overpowered and brought to the police station and taken into custody.

Following this, a more gruesome incident of alleged rape by the accused also came to light.

While the case was reported in December, the accused was unidentified; the police have now said that they have established it was Brijesh.

On December 21 last year, the police said that a minor girl was chatting with a friend near the Ammuguda railway station, when Brijesh – dressed in black trousers and holding a neem stick –  chased away the boy and dragged the victim into the bushes.

The police said the accused then heinously raped the 15-year-old. A case has already been registered under Section 376 of the IPC (Rape) and Section 6 of the POCSO Act, 2012.

“Both the crime scenes are adjacent to each other in the isolated area of Ammuguda beside the railway tracks. The Injuries on both the victims when they were beaten to cooperate are similar. In both the cases, the accused wore black trousers and came from the opposite direction. He was on watch for young, vulnerable couples,” the police said in the release.

“The accused used the same motorcycle and hid the crime vehicle in the bushes and held the stick to give an impression that he is in-charge of that particular area,” the police added.

Besides rape, the army man has also been booked under Sections 511 (Attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment), 325 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC at Trimulgherry Police Station.