A businessman owning multiple jewellery showrooms in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur has been arrested for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, police said on Wednesday.
According to police, the accused, Ashok Kumar Rastogi, who runs Ashoka Jewellers, had hired the teenage girl to work at his showroom. One day, he took the girl to his farmhouse under the pretext of teaching her how to ride a scooter.
He lured the minor by promising to buy her a scooter once she learned to ride, so that she could fetch items for the showroom from his house. Upon reaching the farmhouse, the accused held the girl hostage, stripped her, and forcibly raped her.
Following the incident, the accused threatened the minor that if she told anyone about the ordeal, he would send her entire family to jail. After this, he repeatedly took the girl to the farmhouse and raped her, according to police.
The victim also alleged that the accused raped her multiple times in a room built behind his showroom. Eventually, feeling helpless, the girl revealed the entire truth to her father, after which a complaint was lodged with the police and a case under Pocso has been filed.
When the police raided the farmhouse in Bithoor based on the girl’s complaint, they recovered several sex-enhancing drugs and other obscene materials related to sex. According to the police, these findings proved that Ashok Kumar Rastogi had turned his farmhouse into a den of debauchery.
Significantly, this is not the first such case against the accused jeweller. Previously, he had hired a young woman from Punjab to work in his showroom and raped her multiple times by intimidating her. That victim’s aunt also worked at the showroom and had secured the job for her niece.
The accused had used the same threat of sending her family to jail if she complained. In that matter, the helpless young woman, accompanied by her aunt, had filed a police complaint, leading to Ashok Kumar Rastogi’s arrest. He spent nine months in jail before coming out on bail, only to subsequently make this 15-year-old girl his victim under the guise of giving her a job.
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Published On:
Jun 17, 2026 18:15 IST
