A 20-year-old student of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from Mumbai was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday by the Nagpur police for allegedly kidnapping, sexually assaulting and repeatedly knifing a Class 12 girl whom he had befriended on Instagram.

Police said the breakthrough in its efforts to trace the missing girl came after investigators analysed her Instagram chats. (PTI)

The accused who lives in Thane is the son of a prominent doctor couple and the nephew of a senior IPS officer. He befriended the girl, the daughter of a revenue officer, in May last year on Instagram when she was 16. He had created a fake account identifying himself as a certain Akash Mehra, which is not his real name.

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When the police reached a flat at Dighori, a neighbourhood in south Nagpur, after a 20-hour- long hunt they found the survivor tied up while her abductor stood with a belt in his hand.

A knife on the bedside had been used to slash her repeatedly. The girl was rescued and taken to Government Medical College and Hospital for treatment and the 20-year-old man, since identified as Nirmay Madhav Pakhare, was arrested and taken to Hudkeshwar police station.

Investigators say he began coercing her to continue their sexual relationship and threatened to release her photographs online if she did not comply.

He also rented a flat at Dighori where he met her at least on one other occasion before last week. Police said the accused took the survivor to the rented flat on Sunday morning, where she was allegedly confined for over 24 hours until she was rescued.

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Acting on Nagpur police’s request, Thane police asked the accused’s mother to call him so that they could find his location. As soon as he answered, cyber experts narrowed down his location to the Dighori area.

Senior Inspector Anamika Mirzapure said the accused has been remanded to two days of police custody for questioning. His parents, both doctors, reached Nagpur from Thane on Tuesday after learning about the allegations. “We are investigating whether the accused was involved in similar offences in the past. His Instagram account, mobile phones and other digital devices are being examined,” Mirzapure said.

Pakhare’s parents did not respond to HT’s requests for comment.