Bangalore: Victim has identified 45-year-old attender as the one who sexually abused her The Bangalore Police have zeroed in on the prime suspect in the Orchids The International School rape case.

Sources said the victim, a pre-nursery section kid, has identified a non-teaching staff at the school as the culprit. The child was allegedly sexually abused on the school premises on October 21.

A senior police officer said 45-year-old attender has been detained after the victim identified him as the one who abused her. The investigating team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Sarah Fatima (Malleswaram Sub Division) along with Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths are interrogating the prime suspect, the official said. Meanwhile, ACP (Cubbon Park sub-division) Shobha Rani is coordinating with the family in the investigation.

The police said out of many photos shown, the girl identified the prime accused. However, a formal arrest will be made after the identification process takes place as per guidelines. “The child is still running temperature and it is not possible to take her to the designated place for a formal identification. The process has to take place as per the guidelines where experts as prescribed, including a psychiatrist, will have to be present. Since the child is just three years old, we are also taking extra precautions to take her statement before the magistrate, preferably a lady magistrate,” an official said.

CCTV footage

The police said there were about 11 teaching and non-teaching staff, out of about 70 staff of the school, around the pre-nursery sections when the horrific incident took place on Tuesday. A team of police which analysed the CCTV footage found nothing significant pertaining to the case. “We are eliminating names from the suspects’ list one by one based on their statements pertaining to their activity on Tuesday. There are around 17 school van drivers, but none of them are involved in the incident since the victim was dropped and picked up by the parents. Majority of teaching staff are women, hence the non-teaching staff, including security guards, attendants and housekeeping, were the suspects from the beginning. There are around 900 children studying in the school,” the official added.

No arrests so far

City Police Commissioner M N Reddi briefed the media on Thursday and said it will take some time for the teams to reach a finality. “In the interest of the investigation, it is not proper to divulge any detail as of now. However, the teams probing the case is confident of identifying the culprit soon. No formal arrest has taken place in the case so far,” Reddi said.

On Wednesday, Reddi held a meeting with the parents of the school at his office and assured them that the culprit will be arrested by Saturday. The agitating parents had met the commissioner after their efforts to reach out to the school management vent in vain. Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar said the owner of the school has been summoned to appear before the investigating officer.