Alleged child rapist remanded in judicial custody

The 22-year-old man who allegedly raped a five-year-old girl here was today sent to judicial custody till May four to facilitate test identification parade after he was produced in a city court by the Delhi Police a day before expiry of his transit remand.

Earlier in the day police said that Manoj Kumar, who was arrested yesterday from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, will not be produced in court today but later he was brought before duty magistrate Sanjay Kumar who sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Police sources said Kumar has agreed for a test identification parade.

"In the fairness of investigation, we decided to produce the accused in a court today itself to facilitate a test identification parade," a senior police official said.

Delhi Police has initially decided to produce Kumar before a regular court tomorrow when the 72-hour transit remand they obtained from a Bihar court ends. Police even issued a statement in this regard.

The sources said the decision was changed later in the day as investigators felt that the delay in production of the accused may go in his favour while pressing for a test identification parade.

Investigators feared that he could claim that he was paraded before those who will attend the TIP which could hamper their case.

Kumar, a labourer in a garment factory in north- east Delhi, was arrested yesterday by a team of Delhi Police and their Bihar counterpart from Muzafarpur district.

The accused was flown to the capital last evening.

The five-year-old girl was brutally raped and assaulted allegedly by Kumar while being held captive and starved for two days in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar. She also contracted infection from foreign objects inserted in her body.