Kathmandu, February 16

Police today said they have arrested Bimal Thapa Magar, 25, on the charge of raping a five-year-old girl on the premises of a Pepsicola-based school.

An FIR lodged by the victim’s mother against Magar of Ramechhap district at the Metropolitan Police Circle, New Baneshwor, said he had raped the girl yesterday evening.

The girl's parents operate a canteen at the school where the crime reportedly took place.

According to a police officer, the alleged perpetrator, a security guard of a private company, was a regular client of the canteen and used to show love and affection to the girl as if she were 'his own child'.

“He came to the canteen to have a meal yesterday at around 7:00pm and took the girl to a nearby garage and raped her. The incident came to light after the girl told her elder brother about the unusual incident,” said the official.

The parents took the girl to the Pepsicola-based Motherland Hospital for medical check-up and treatment and lodged a complaint with the police.

On the basis of the preliminary medical report, police apprehended the suspect to proceed with the further investigation into the incident.

Magar raped the girl after showing her obscene videos uploaded on his mobile phone set. “Detailed medical report is yet to be received. However, circumstantial evidences and statement of the girl show that she was sexually assaulted. Further investigation is under way,” said the official.

According to statistics maintained by Metropolitan Police Office, cases of rape continue to take place in the Kathmandu Valley despite pro-active policing.

It recorded 50 incidents of rape between mid-July to mid-February. As many as 127 rapes were reported in 2014-15 and 111 in 2013-14.

Officials said women and children in the Valley were more vulnerable to the physical violence.