Indian policewoman lays Facebook trap to arrest rapist

New Delhi - "Jha had kidnapped a minor girl in 2016. The girl said he sexually and physically assaulted her"

An absconding man's planned randezvous with a woman whom he met on a social networking site did not end as he had expected, as the kidnapping-rape accused walked into a trap laid by Delhi Police with the help of a woman Constable.

The woman Constable helped in the arrest by first befriending Alok Ranjan Jha on Facebook and then luring him into the police trap, an officer said on Tuesday.

Jha, 22, was arrested on Sunday after he asked the woman Constable to meet him at a mall in Netaji Subhash Place in north Delhi, the area where he was residing.

"Jha had kidnapped a minor girl in 2016 from west Delhi's Begampur area and held her captive in a house in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh. The girl said in her complaint that he sexually and physically assaulted her during that period," a senior police officer said.

The girl escaped in September while an inebriated Jha was sleeping in the house. After she returned home, her family approached Begampur police station on September 14.

During investigation, it was found that Jha frequently changed his SIM cards every 10- 15 days and kept his mobile phone switched off most of the time to evade arrest, police said.

Since tracing out Jha was proving to be a big ask, Begampur Station House Officer R.S. Meena asked the woman constable to use her Facebook account to look for him.

"The woman constable tracked Jha and sent him a friend request. After chatting with her on Facebook for a month, Jha expressed the desire to meet her," the officer said.

Little did Jha know that the planned tryst was a trap laid by policemen to arrest him.

• India