Patna, March 9: Mahesh Rai, who was accused of raping a teenager in the Shivala area under Shahpur police station surrendered in the Danapur court today.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar said the accused was under immense pressure after the police started the search operation to nab him.

The SSP said the girls father had lodged an FIR after the incident following which as many as four police stations were on the task to nab the accused.

Patna City superintendent of police (SP) Shivdeep Lande led the team for the search operation.

“We were constantly raiding different village areas in the vicinity of the site of the incident and kept questioning the relatives of the accused. The police pressure was too much for him to handle and the man surrendered in the court today,” the SSP said.

The officer said the police would appeal for his remand so that they get to interrogate him.

The incident had occurred on March 7 as the 13-year-old girl, a resident of Gamsaut village in the area had gone out of her house for some work late in the evening. Rai, a resident of the Pothia village in the neighbourhood, caught hold of her and took her to a nearby field and allegedly raped her.

The man fled after committing the crime.

Following the incident, the family members of the victim started looking for her and recovered her from the field in an unconscious state after about two hours. After this, the irate family members and the people of the village blocked the Shivala-Khagaul Road for hours demanding an immediate arrest of the accused.

The family members lodged an FIR with the Shahpur police station the same evening. “The police formed special teams for his arrest under City SP Shivdeep Lande. The cops kept conducting successive raids in different parts of the area. This obviously created a lot of pressure for him. Different parts of the area were raided throughout the day yesterday. The man finally succumbed to police pressure today and surrendered,” the SSP said.

There has been a sudden increase in the incidents of eve teasing and molestation in the state capital in the past few months.

On March 5, a Home Guard jawan at Patkhauli outpost in Bagha district had raped a 25-year-old woman, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. The police arrested the accused jawan and the man was subsequently expelled from her services.

On February 27, a schoolgirl was abused and then groped by a man in khaki while she was going for her painting class on an autorickshaw in the late evening hours. The girl raised an alarm and somehow got down from the vehicle near JD Women’s College in the city.