25-year-old rape accused flees Covid facility in Beed

AURANGABAD: A 25-year-old rape suspect, who tested positive for Covid-19 at the time of his arrest a week ago, escaped from a government hospital-cum-Covid Care Centre at Shirur taluka in Beed district during the wee hours of Monday.
The centre had no police guard posted for keeping an eye on the suspect, who is a tribal from a hamlet in Shirur taluka, while he was undergoing treatment there.The police have since deployed various teams to trace the suspect.
Beed’s superintendent of police R Raja told TOI, “Before being arrested in the rape case, the suspect was found to be positive for Covid-19 and had to be admitted to the Covid care centre. We were waiting for him to fully recover so that we could arrest and produce him before a special court (Pocso Act) for his custodial remand, but he fled.”
Assistant inspector Suresh Khade, who is investigating the rape case, said, “The suspect was on the run ever since the registration of the offence and we somehow managed to detain him a week ago. Prior to his arrest, he was screened and found to be Covid-19 positive.”
Khade cited the suspect’s medical reports and said, "He was responding well to the on-going treatment and was expected to be discharged in the next few days. Anticipating his arrest, the suspect left his bed around 4am on Monday on the pretext of answering nature's call and walked out of the ward, before fleeing from the government hospital.”
Around a month ago, the suspect is alleged to have raped his 15-year-old niece while she was alone in her house in a neighbouring hamlet. Shirur police had then registered an offence of rape and under the provisions of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.