NAGPUR: A 23-year-old man has been booked for allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl at a warehouse in the Wadi police station area. The accused allegedly threatened to kill the child if she disclosed the assault to anyone.

According to the police complaint, the accused, identified as Rameshwar Baliram Uike (23), and the victim’s family were living in the same large warehouse along with four to five other families. They were employed as daily-wage labourers at an under-construction building belonging to contractor Sachin Raut in the Bhivsen Khori area.

As other families had left for their native villages for Diwali, the victim’s mother had gone to work at the construction site on November 11, leaving her 10-year-old daughter and younger son at the warehouse.

Taking advantage of the girl’s mother being away and her younger brother’s presence being insufficient to protect her, the accused allegedly took the boy outside and made him stand there before sexually assaulting the minor girl inside the warehouse.

The accused allegedly threatened the girl with dire consequences, including death, if she revealed the incident to anyone. The girl subsequently narrated the ordeal to her mother, following which the matter was reported to the police.

Wadi police registered a case under Sections 65(2) and 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Police are investigating the case.