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Accused serial paedophile may have targeted close to 500 children

An alleged serial child rapist has been accused of targeting close to 500 children over the last 13 years in India.

Sunil Rastogi was arrested on the weekend and charged over three cases involving girls aged nine and ten.

Police said the 38-year-old married tailor was also being investigated for related paedophile crimes.

Rastogi is accused of travelling to Delhi by train to look for lone minor girls, then kidnapping and taking them to construction sites or isolated locations, before raping them and fleeing the city.

According to police, he said he could not remember the exact number of girls he had sexually assaulted since 2004 but said it could be in the “hundreds”.

Yahoo India reports the accused rapist nearly targeted five hundred children over the last 13 years.

Rastogi being led to court while masked. Photo: Yahoo India.
Rastogi being led to court while masked. Photo: Yahoo India.

"Whenever he would find any minor girl going to home from school, he used to mislead her on the pretext that her father had sent some clothes or some other articles to give her and take her to an isolated place," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Omvir Singh told reporters.

"During interrogation, he confessed he committed the alleged offences and also revealed he committed similar offences with other girls in New Ashok Nagar, Delhi, Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), and Rudrapur (Uttarakhand)," he added.

A 38-year-old accused paedophile, Sunil Rastogi, has allegedly confessed to assaulting hundreds of schoolgirls. The accused, who is a tailor by profession, was arrested at Delhi's New Ashok Nagar. Photo: Yahoo India.
A 38-year-old accused paedophile, Sunil Rastogi, has allegedly confessed to assaulting hundreds of schoolgirls. The accused, who is a tailor by profession, was arrested at Delhi's New Ashok Nagar. Photo: Yahoo India.

Singh said a team was formed to identify the man after another complaint was received on 13 December.

The accused was arrested on January 15 and charged with rape, aggravated penetrative sexual assault of a minor, and criminal intimidation, in the three cases.