A 38-year-old Indian man confessed to assaulting as many as 200 underage girls during the past 12 years, New Delhi Police official said on Monday.

The accused, Sunil Rastogi who is also a tailor was arrested in eastern Delhi over the weekend after investigations into sexual attacks on young girls led the police to him.

The police said that they are still investigating the admission by Rastogi.

“The suspected paedophile travelled in and out of Delhi.

“He allegedly lured girls between 7 and 11 years old to isolated places, telling them he wanted to gift them or their parents clothes, the police said.

East Delhi Police Chief Omvir Bishnoi said that the police were currently probing 60 cases of molestation and rape that could be linked to Rastogi across Delhi and surrounding areas.

“As of now investigations have confirmed his involvement in seven such criminal cases.

“During interrogation he has claimed to have assaulted many more girls, that we estimate up to 200 girls. We are looking into the confessions and verifying them.

“Bishnoi denied media reports that said that, during police questioning, Rastogi admitted to targeting as many as 500 children,” he said.

The confessions have baffled police, who are taken aback at how Rastogi went undetected for so long.

Rastogi was jailed in 2006 for six months in Rudrapur city, some 250 km East of Delhi, where he lives, for sexually assaulting a girl while she was working at a farm.

Following Rastogi’s arrest this weekend, women’s rights activists demanded strict action against the alleged sexual predator, with some calling for the death penalty. (dpa/NAN)

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