Concord police have arrested a Rochester man accused of repeatedly raping a girl in Merrimack and Strafford counties over the course of nearly a decade.
Darpan Kirat Rai, 36, faces 15 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, including eight charges that allege a pattern of sexual abuse. Police said Kirat Rai sexually assaulted the girl – whom he knew – from 2008 through 2017, and that abuse began when she was attending elementary school in Concord.
The majority of the abuse is alleged to have occurred in Concord; however, police said incidents were also reported in Boscawen and Barrington.
Authorities opened an investigation into Kirat Rai after an attorney contacted Concord police in spring 2018 to report multiple allegations of rape. That report led to a multi-agency investigation that culminated in his arrest early Tuesday morning at his home, which police had under surveillance.
“The investigation showed the suspect made contact with the victim when she was a young child. He groomed her and continued to sexually assault her at various locations, to include residences and vehicles, for years,” Concord police Lt. Sean Ford said in an interview Tuesday. “The assaults were committed with threats of force and coercion.”
If convicted of the felony charges, Kirat Rai faces decades in state prison.
The victim, now in her 20s, was interviewed at the Merrimack County Advocacy Center in Concord as part of the investigation. Additionally, police interviewed numerous witnesses and collected evidence that corroborates the woman’s story, Ford said.
Police from Concord and Barrington, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal’s Office, executed an arrest warrant in Rochester early Tuesday and took Kirat Rai into custody without incident. Officers had surrounded the home and moved in on Kirat Rai as he attempted to leave, Ford said. Police had a warrant and searched his home.
Kirat Rai was transported to the Concord Police Department where he refused the services of a bail commissioner. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Concord’s district court.
The investigation into allegations against Kirat Rai is ongoing. Ford said police are concerned about other victims and said additional charges in the case are likely.
Kirat Rai was previously convicted in Rochester’s district court of domestic violence simple assault, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in September 2018 to the misdemeanor charge for assaulting an intimate partner. A 30-day jail sentence was suspended for two years on conditions of good behavior and upon his completion of anger management counseling.
Police ask anyone with information about the sexual assault case to contact Ford at 230-3728, the Concord Regional Crimeline at 226-3100, or Barrington police Lt. Kathleen O’Brien at 664-7679.
https://www.concordmonitor.com/Concord-police-arrest-Rochester-man-decade-sexual-assault-23915176
