Cuttack: Parents of an 11-year-old girl lodged a police complaint a month after a person had allegedly raped their daughter.

A case has been registered by Mahila police, and the accused, Jagannath Mohapatra, 51, of Deypur in Kendrapada was arrested on Thursday. On production before the special court here for cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, he was denied bail and sent to Choudwar jail on Friday.

"The accused was staying at an ice factory at Press Chakh near Telugu busti. Though the incident had taken place one month ago, Mahila police received the complaint on Thursday," deputy commissioner of police Akhileswar Singh said.

The police said medical examination of the accused was conducted on Friday.

As the girl was undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital, a magistrate went to the hospital on Friday and recorded her statement under section 164 of CrPC. A police forensic team visited the alleged spot to where the girl had been lured by offering chocolate and raped. Some materials collected from the spot has been sent for examination to the state forensic laboratory.

The police said the girl, a class V student, was the daughter of a rickshaw-puller living in the busti near the ice factory's depot. On the day of the incident, her parents had gone out to work leaving the girl at home. Mohapatra had allegedly repeated the crime more than once and threatened the girl not to disclose it.

But things surfaced when the girl complained of some problem while urinating. Her parents then took her to SCB, where doctors indicated about sexual assault.

Subsequently, a local NGO helped them lodged a complaint at Madhupatna police station, which referred the case to Mahila police station, where the case was registered on Thursday.

Snatchers held

Police on Saturday arrested three youths on charges of snatching in the city and seized five gold chains and a motorcycle from their possession. The trio have been identified as Rajkishore Muduli, Rajkumar Thakuri and Soni Nayak. The police said the accused were involved in five cases of chain snatching.