A 17-year-old boy from Santacruz was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping and sodomising his six-year-old neighbour.

On Saturday evening, Vinod (name changed as he is a minor) lured the girl with a chocolate, took her to an isolated spot and sodomised her, the police said.

When the girl returned home, her mother, who is hearing and speech impaired, asked her about the bloodstains on her dress.

“In sign language, the girl told her mother what had happened,” said Ankush Ramugade, a neighbour.

As the girl could not tell her father about the accused or the spot he took her to, the father could not lodge a complaint. On Tuesday, Vinod, who polishes tiles, approached the girl again. “Pointing to him, she told her father he was the accused,” said Inspector Sanjay Patil of the Vakola police station.

The father caught him and handed him over to the police.

The girl was later sent to VN Desai civic hospital for a medical test. “She is fine now, but in a state of shock,” said her father.

Neighbours said Vinod had committed such offences twice in the past but the other victims’ parents had not report the matter to avoid embarrassment.