Mumbai cop accused of raping minor is dead

Absconding former police inspector Arun Borude, accused of raping a minor girl in Powai, Mumbai has been found dead near railway tracks in Srirampur Taluka of Ahmednagar district of the state on Wednesday, officials said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Himanshu Roy addressed a press conference on Wednesday evening where he confirmed that Borude died after being hit by a train. However, it is still not clear whether it is a case of accident or suicide, Roy said.

Borude was dismissed after his name cropped up in the rape case of a 15-year-old girl in suburban Powai. He has been absconding since November 9 following registration of first information report against him and four others on November 1.

"Borude's body was found this afternoon near the railway tracks in Srirampur. Preliminary investigations suggest that it is a case of suicide. We are however looking at all the aspects," Government Railway Police Commissioner Tukaram Chavan said.

Krishna Prakash, Ahmednagar superintendent of

police, said, "We got a call from the GRP that they found an injured Borude lying on the tracks. He was rushed to the Employees Service Insurance Scheme Hospital in Shrirampur where he succumbed to his injuries. He succumbed to his injuries when he was taken to another hospital from the ESIS hospital"

Prakash said that he has deputed an additional superintendent of police to the spot to find out the exact sequence of events. 
 
According to the police, the girl was raped by four to five men, including Borude, on several occasions between February and March this year in a flat in a building in Powai. Borude resides with his family in an adjacent flat.

The rape incident came to light when the victim gave birth to a baby girl in October in a suburban hospital. The Bombay High Court had on December 20 rejected Borude's anticipatory bail plea.

"Borude's running away from investigations instead of helping his colleagues unearth the truth is a glaring suspicious circumstance against him," the high court had observed.