Guntur- Andhra Pradesh: A 13-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted by four men in the Mangalagiri town limits of Guntur district, following which the police arrested the accused and registered cases under the POCSO Act, police officials said.
According to the police, the incident took place on the night of December 18 near Mangalagiri railway station in the Guntur region. The minor was reportedly with her friends around 10 p.m. when the accused allegedly lured her into an auto-rickshaw and took her to multiple isolated locations on the outskirts of the town.
Police stated that the victim was subjected to repeated sexual assault at different locations. The accused have been identified as Sheikh Khader Basha (50) of KL Rao Colony, Tadepalli; Kamal Saheb (25), son of Khader Basha; Sheikh Salim (42) of Prakash Nagar, Vijayawada; and Sheikh Rabbani (39), an auto-rickshaw driver. Investigators said the girl was taken to various locations during the course of the incident.
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The incident came to light after the victim raised an alarm while being transported in the auto-rickshaw. Hearing her screams, local residents intervened, following which the accused fled the scene.
The girl later reached home, where she recounted the harrowing details to her mother, and a police complaint was lodged.
Acting on the complaint, police officer K. Veeraswamy and his teams launched a manhunt and successfully took all four suspects into custody near the Don Bosco area on the afternoon of 21 December. The DSP confirmed that cases had been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act.
Later, the accused were paraded through public roads. “This parade is a message of zero tolerance towards anyone targeting women and children in our jurisdiction,” DSP Muralikrishna told the media.
While the four primary accused have been remanded to judicial custody, the police are continuing their investigation to determine if any other individuals were involved in a wider conspiracy.
The victim has been transferred to AIIMS for a comprehensive medical examination and psychological counselling.
