New Delhi: Over two years ago, the Supreme Court acquitted a UP man on death row for the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl, after he spent 10 years in prison. Now, Alauddin alias ‘Chotkau’ is back in jail, for the alleged abduction and sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl in UP’s Shravasti district.
This time, Chotkau was arrested in the early hours of 12 May. According to the UP Police, a team was sent to pursue him when he was trying to escape to Nepal, and he opened fire at them with “intent to kill”.
However, two FIRs have been lodged in the latest incident. One is a suo motu FIR by the police. The other, registered on a complaint of kidnapping by the girl’s father, has no mention of Chotkau, or sexual assault.
The police have booked Chotkau under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, as well as on attempted murder charges in connection with his alleged attack on the team that went to nab him.
According to the suo motu FIR by Station House Officer (SHO) Ashwini Kumar Dubey at Ikauna police station in Shravasti, it was lodged largely on the basis of Chotkau’s “confession” while he was interrogated in custody.
The complaint filed by the minor’s father, names a different individual called Shafiq and two unidentified persons as accused. The father claims he found his daughter with Shafiq and personally brought them to the police.
Ikauna police officers told ThePrint they arrested Chotkau after recovering CCTV footage of him with the minor, and speaking to eyewitnesses, while probing the complaint by the girl’s father. Shafiq was not found to be involved, according to their probe. He was booked based on the father’s “assumption”, they added.
Chotkau’s family however has denied his involvement, and alleged that police dragged him out of a hospital where his mother was undergoing treatment, and arrested him. They claim Chotkau was framed in both the latest case and the previous one.
Meanwhile, Ikauna SHO Dubey, who lodged the suo motu FIR, has since been transferred, officers at the police station confirmed to ThePrint.
Chotkau was earlier arrested in March 2012 for the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl, also in Shravasti district, and was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2014, a verdict upheld by the Allahabad High Court in 2016. The Supreme Court then stayed his execution in 2018, and eventually acquitted him in 2022, citing “no shred of evidence”, ThePrint had reported in October 2022. Post his release, he began working as an e-rickshaw driver.
The father’s FIR
In the latest case, the father of the victim in his complaint said that at around 9.15 pm on 9 May, his daughter was abducted by accused Shafiq, along with two unidentified accomplices, in an e-rickshaw. ThePrint has seen a copy of the FIR.
Following an extensive search, the girl was found with Shafiq on a road beyond the Mohanipur crossing in Shravasti district, the FIR quoted the father as saying in his complaint. When he tried to confront them, Shafiq tried to flee, but was caught by the father, while the other two escaped. The complainant then brought Shafiq and his daughter to the police, the FIR added.
However, according to the police, Shafiq only happened to be present at the scene, and was caught by the girl’s father “in the heat of the moment”.
“We questioned Shafiq, and also asked the girl to identify him. She clearly said that he was not the one,” an officer at Ikauna police station told ThePrint.
He added that Shafiq owns an egg cart, and used to work for the girl’s father, who had once lent him Rs 5,000, which he never returned. “He was sleeping near Mohinipur road when the incident occurred. The girl’s father saw him there, assumed that he was involved out of personal spite, and caught him in anger. We took him into custody to prevent unrest, and filed the FIR. But after questioning, it became clear that Shafiq had no role in the incident.”
On Chotkau’s alleged involvement, the officer said, “We spoke to a few eyewitnesses and also checked CCTV footage, where we saw Chotkau taking the girl. After careful assessment, we proceeded to take appropriate action and arrested him.”
Chotkau’s ‘attempt to flee & confession’
According to the suo motu FIR registered by SHO Dubey, the police got a tip-off that Chotkau, alias “Alauddin”, a suspect in case 110/2025 (FIR lodged on by the girl’s father), might attempt to flee to Nepal that night, using his vehicle (the e-rickshaw).
Acting on this input, Dubey, along with 11 officers, set out to arrest him on the night of 11 May. Three police teams were deployed in different directions to intercept Chotkau. They allegedly received real-time location updates from an informer, and eventually “spotted” the accused travelling in an e-rickshaw.
“When signalled to stop, the person (Chotkau) in the rickshaw panicked, turned left abruptly, and hit a tree. As he exited the vehicle and tried to flee, we warned him to surrender. Instead, he fired at us with the intent to kill,” the suo motu FIR said. The police allegedly returned fire in self-defence. Chotkau was shot in both legs and apprehended.
He was arrested at 4.45 am on 12 May, and taken to Community Health Centre Ikauna for treatment for his injuries.
A country-made pistol of .315 bore with a trigger, a hammer, and an eight-inch iron barrel, along with cartridges marked “8mm KF”, were allegedly recovered from the accused. The FIR further said that he was later referred to Labhanga Hospital, where he confessed to having bought the pistol from an unknown person at the Nepal border.
The FIR included a purported statement by Chotkau in which he acknowledged attempting to flee to Nepal. He is quoted as saying that on spotting the police, he turned his e-rickshaw and in his attempt to escape, collided with a tree.
He further said in the statement that upon exiting the vehicle, he intended to flee on foot, but decided to fire at the police, believing it might give him a chance to escape. “With the intent to kill, I fired my country-made pistol at you,” the FIR quoted him as saying.
It also said that the police returned fire, and Chotkau was struck in both legs. “I fell on the spot, and my pistol slipped from my hand. That’s when I was caught,” the FIR further quoted him as saying.
Chotkau also allegedly confessed to kidnapping and raping the seven-year-old. “On the evening of 9 May at around 9 pm, I took my e-rickshaw, which was parked nearby, and went to a place where food arrangements had been made,” Chotkau is quoted as saying in the FIR.
He allegedly admitted that he then grabbed the girl by the hand, made her sit in the rickshaw, and drove to Mohanipur. “From there, I turned towards Kailashpur turn and, taking advantage of the darkness, I committed a wrongful act with her both in the e-rickshaw and outside on the ground,” he said.
The FIR added that the girl was bleeding and convulsing after the sexual assault. “I left her by the roadside, turned my vehicle around, and fled past J.P. School,” Chotkau’s statement read.
Chotkau was booked under sections 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for attempted murder, 137(2) (kidnapping), 65(2) rape, 71 (punishment for repeat sexual offenders), sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act for illegal possession and use of firearms, and POCSO.
Foul play, says Chotkau’s family
According to Chotkau’s sister Rukhsaar, he had gone to the hospital with their mother and his wife, from where he was arrested. She said the local sarpanch was behind the allegations, adding that the family was embroiled in a long-drawn land dispute case against him a few years ago.
“The case was in court, where he even said that my mother (the owner of the land) was dead, while she is still alive. We believe he is involved in his arrest,” she told ThePrint.
Chotkau’s wife said they had taken his mother to Tulsiram Hospital around 5 pm as she was experiencing severe abdominal pain. “I went to get food and returned to the hospital around midnight,” she recalled. “That’s when I saw the police were already there.”
She claimed that two police vehicles, and around 20 officers, were present at the spot. “The police were drinking alcohol,” she alleged. According to her, the officers entered the hospital, dragged Chotkau out, and beat him up. “They even took all the money we had and threatened to hit me, too,” she told ThePrint. “We had just started our life. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)