Hyderabad: 17-year-old girl gang-raped in Innova car; 4 including 3 juveniles held, one still absconding

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Police on Sunday arrested the fourth accused in connection with the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in a car in Jubilee Hills area here on May 28.

Inspector Jubilee Hills S Rajashekhar Reddy said, "One more accused has been taken into custody, and now a total of four accused have been arrested."

Earlier, Police on Saturday arrested two juveniles and another accused Saduddin Malik (18) was arrested on Friday.

The fifth accused is still absconding, the police said. Three of the four arrested accused are juveniles.

Ruling TRS Working President and Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday requested the state Home Minister, Director General of Police (DGP) and Hyderabad City Police Commissioner to take "immediate and stern action" in the gang rape case.

Hyderabad West Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Joel Davis on Saturday said: 'In continuation of arrest of A-2 Saduddin Malik on 03-06-2022, two CCLs (Child in Conflict with Law) were apprehended by Jubilee Hills police today i.e., on 04-06-2022 and their apprehension was effected in the above case and they are being produced before the Hon’ble Juvenile Court for their safe custody."

He sad so far out of five accused persons identified, three have been arrested (one adult and two juveniles) while another juvenile and adult are missing.

The accused sexually assaulted the victim in an Innova vehicle on the evening of May 28 after promising to drop her home from a pub in Jubilee Hills where the victim and the accused attended a party.

The police said the accused and the girl left in a car from the pub and stopped at a pastry shop enroute. There they left the car and boarded another vehicle.

The five allegedly parked the car at Jubilee Hills and took turns raping the girl inside the vehicle.

The police investigation revealed that after committing the crime, the accused dropped the victim back near the pub. She called her father, who picked her up but suspected something untoward happened to her as there were bruises on her neck.

The victim's father approached police on May 31 saying his daughter went to day-time non-alcoholic party and suspected that molestation might have taken place there. He told police that the girl is in a state of shock and is not able to speak.

Based on CCTV footage and other technical evidence and after it was corroborated with the victim's statement, police identified five accused, two of them major and three aged 16-17."

Based on the complaint by the victim's father, police registered a case under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 9 and 10 of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and started investigation.

As per the Standard Operating Procedure, after counseling the victim, police sent her to Bharosa Centre where women officials tried boosting her confidence through further counselling. She then revealed to the women officials what happened to her and gave her statement," the DCP said.

Based on the victim's statement, police altered the case to section 376 D of IPC and section 5 and 6 of POCSO Act and since there were bruises on the victim, Section 323 of IPC was also added, Davis added. (UNI)