Police have arrested Sushil Singh, a 24-year-old police constable working at Gadsera Temporary Police Post, on charges of raping and subsequently attempting to kill a 15-year-old girl.

Absconding Singh was arrested on Monday night as he was hiding in Sahajapur of Kailali, informed Mukesh Singh, acting senior Superintendent of Police at the Far Western Provincial Police Office.

The family of the survivor had lodged a complaint against Singh at the District Police Office, Doti on Monday afternoon alleging that he had attempted to kill the girl after raping her.

According to the girl’s father, the incident took place on the night of October 29. According to him, Singh raped his daughter at 11:00 pm when she was asleep in her bedroom and strangulated her with a shawl before dumping her in a nearby farm.

He said he found his daughter in a semi-conscious state at 3:00 in the morning. “We heard someone shouting at night so we went to look who it was. That is how we found out that Singh had strangulated my daughter with her own shawl and dumped her in a nearby farm thinking she had died,” said the father.

Though the girl was immediately rushed to the Provincial Hospital in Dhangadhi, she regained consciousness only on November 31. She had sustained bruises on her legs and neck.

According to the survivor, Singh tried to beat her to death after raping her. “He used to say he loved me and would marry me. But he came at night, raped me and tried to kill me,” the girl said.

It has been reported that the Gadsera Temporary Police Post in-charge Chandra Bhandari had initially refused to register the case against constable Singh. Likewise, the Jorayal Police Post had also refused to file the case.

Similarly, the district police office had also refused to file the case initially, but registered it later following much pressure from the survivor’s family.

The girl’s relatives have accused the police of trying to fabricate a case of attempted suicide against the survivor saying that she had tried to kill herself after Singh refused to marry her.

The survivor’s father has said that the police were pressuring him to settle the incident and marry his daughter to the alleged rapist.