Police rescue 16-year-old Delhi girl who was abducted, sold for marriage

New Delhi, July 24

A 16-year-old girl, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and 'sold' to a person for Rs 50,000 with whom she was also forcibly married, has been rescued from Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district and the accused arrested, police said on Saturday.

The accused, Rajeev Garg, had befriended the girl by creating a fake ID on social media and emotionally blackmailed her to meet him in northwest Delhi from where she was abducted and taken to Bhind, they said.

On May 29, the girl told her parents that she was going to one of her friends' house but when she did not return, her family starting searching her.

When she was not found, a case was registered at Ranhola police station next day under section 363 (punishment for kidnapping), a senior police officer said.

The call detail records of the victim were scrutinized. The police focused on a particular mobile number whose location was found to be in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah, and Gwalior and Bhind in MP, the officer said.

"The location of that mobile number was in Delhi on the day the girl went missing. Its movement was followed and police apprehended Garg on Thursday from Bhind," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Monika Bhardwaj said.

Based on his disclosure, the victim was rescued from a house near Bhind's bus stand, the police said.

Enquiry revealed that the accused had created an ID on social media in the name of Mahi Garg, and came in contact with the victim there, the DCP said.

Both of them started interacting. However, one day, when the girl came to know that her virtual friend is a male, she stopped talking to him and also blocked his mobile number when he tried to contact her, police said.

Garg then called her from a different mobile number and emotionally blackmailed her to continue their friendship and unblock his phone number, they said, adding the accused also convinced her to meet him at Madhuban Chowk in northwest Delhi.

On May 29, the girl went to Madhuban Chowk and met Garg who abducted her and took her to Bhind, police said.

The victim was physically and sexually assaulted by Garg. She told the police that Garg had sold her to a man named Ram Mohan, also a resident of Bhind, for Rs 50,000, and she was forced to marry him, the police said.

Garg was in Gwalior Jail for seven months in a dowry case. Mohan was Garg's tenant and is presently at large. The victim and Garg were brought to Delhi, police added. — PTI 

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