Representative image of an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh police have arrested a man in the state's Meerut district who allegedly sexually assaulted more than a dozen children and teens and also filmed the act.
According to the police sources here, the man identified as Ajeet Singh, a resident of Surrorpur area in the district, was arrested after videos purportedly containing the act went viral on social media.
The police had earlier lodged an FIR in the matter after the videos went viral. Sources said that a police team raided Ajeet Singh's house late on Monday night and arrested him.
Police said that the accused, who owned a grocery shop in the village, used to offer cold drinks, laced with liquor, to the children and then sexually assaulted them once they became intoxicated. He also used to film the act and threatened to make them viral if they told their parents about it.
The accused also used to extort money from the victims threatening to make the videos public, sources said. The accused had got CCTV installed
The matter came to light after some videos of the alleged sexual assault went viral. Police said that so far over a dozen cases of sexual assault of the children and teens from the village had come to light.
''There may be more...we are examining the CCTV footage....we have appealed to the people to come forward and report if their children have been abused,'' said the official. The cell phone of the accused was being examined to ascertain if he had deleted the videos and clips.
Sources said that the parents of some victims were reluctant to approach the cops for fear of social stigma.