Senior SDF leader arrested for sexually assaulting 13-year-old girl: Sikkim Police

Gangtok: Senior Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leader Rup Narayan Rai was arrested on Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at his residence where she was staying for months, police said.

Rai, also the former chairperson of the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation (STDC), was arrested from a village in the Namchi police station area in South Sikkim where he has been hiding, Superintendent of Police Thakur Thapa said.

He had taken the girl to his house, assuring her family that he would provide her good education, police said.

Rai sexually assaulted her there, they said, adding that the girl returned home last week and narrated the ordeal to her family, following which her brother lodged a complaint at the Melli police station on August 14. Police raided the Chuba Perbing village based on a tip-off and arrested Rai, Thapa said.

He has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act sections 6 and 10, both of which deal with sexual assault, the officer said.

He will be produced at a court on Tuesday, Thapa added. The SDF said it has suspended Rai from the party in the wake of the charges against him.