Ludhiana, June 27 -- The Ludhiana Rural police have arrested a man serving as a granthi (priest) at a religious shrine in Sidhwan Bet on the charges of raping an 11-year-old girl, when she was there to pay obeisance on Tuesday. The accused has been identified as Gurcharan Singh, a resident of Dugri.

According to the victim's mother, her daughter had gone near the religious shrine in the area around 5 pm on June 24, as part of her usual evening routine with other children.

After coming home, the girl told her mother that the priest at the shrine had sexually assaulted her. Terrified by the incident, she fled through a different exit and hurried back home, where she broke down and narrated the ordeal to her mother.

Following this, the vi...