The accused, Premoday Khakha, was posted to the Women and Child Development Department.
New Delhi:
The teen girl raped multiple times by suspended senior Delhi government official Premoday Khakha was drugged before each act of sexual abuse and, on one instance, woke up to injuries on her body, police sources said Tuesday afternoon as more shocking details emerge of a crime that has rocked the nation. Police sources also said the young girl – who was then 14 years old – was depressed after her father died in 2020. The father died at the height of the pandemic but not due to Covid, the sources added.
According to the police, the first rape occurred on October 31, 2020. This was likely just days after the young girl – traumatised by her father’s death – was packed off to Khakha’s home in Burari in northeast Delhi by her mother – less than two weeks later. The mother said the official had convinced her she would be safe in his care.
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Police sources have said the teen was raped at least once more during her five-month stay in Burari – in February 2021, a month after which she went to Jharkhand for a family function. She did not return to Khakha’s home, police sources added.
Panic attacks after father’s death
The police say the teen girl – now a Class XII student – suffered frequent panic attacks after her father died, forcing her to drop out of school after Class IX and enroll in an open learning institution. It is likely, police sources say, the twin trauma – the father’s death and the rapes – left her unable to alert authorities to the sexual abuse inflicted by Premoday Khakha.
The attacks on the young girl were only revealed this month after she spoke to a counsellor at a Delhi hospital, where she was being treatment for another round of panic attacks. She had been rushed to the hospital by her mother.
READ | Teen Raped By Delhi Officer Was Hospitalised After Panic Attacks: Sources
The girl has been and continues to be provided therapy to help her recover from the repeated sexual assault she faced from her father’s ‘friend’ – someone she called ‘mama’ (uncle).
Accused not co-operating?
Khakha – who has been suspended from his position in the Delhi government’s Women and Child Development Department and arrested – is not co-operating, police sources also said, adding he insists the allegations are ‘completely wrong’.
In addition to Khakha, Delhi Police also arrested Seema Rani, the accused’s wife, who allegedly had the couple’s 21-year-old son buy abortion pills to feed the teen after she became pregnant.
READ | Delhi Officer Raped Friend’s Teen Daughter, Wife Gave Her Abortion Pills
Khakha’s suspension and arrest were announced after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party ripped into Delhi Police – which reports to the Bharatiya Janata Party-controlled centre – over the delay in arresting him.
