Hyderabad gang-rape: MLA's minor son booked for molestation

Tribune News Service

Naveen S Garewal

Hyderabad, June 7

The son and another relative of a MLA of the AIMIM are among six accused arrested by Hyderabad police in the sensational case of a gang-rape of a 17-year-old girl in a car on May 28.

The Hyderabad Police have arrested all six accused in the Jubilee Hills gang rape case. Barring one adult, the remaining accused and the victim are all minors. This was announced at a press conference by Commissioner of Police CV Anand late Tuesday night. The police said that the accused and the victim were unknown to each other and were attending a party organised by a Bengaluru resident on a payment basis.

Barring one name, Saddudin Malik, revealed by the police, all other accused are minors whose identities have been withheld. Earlier, the police were working on the theory that five persons were involved in the crime, but after investigation, a sixth person related to sitting Telangana legislator was recognised. The commissioner said that the Innova vehicle, in which the minor was raped, appears to be an official vehicle as it has “Government Vehicle” written on it.

The police commissioner said forensic experts had got enough evidence from the Innova, and no evidence had been lost, as reported by some media. Furnishing details of the crime, the police investigation revealed that one person named Osman Ali Khan had booked the pub for a minor resident from Bengaluru. This minor advertised the non-smoking, non-alcohol party on his Facebook on May 28. The victim and her friend paid Rs 1350 each to enter the pub where the party was held.

After striking up a conversation with the victim, the accused came to the pub and started molesting and touching her. When the two girls left, the accused followed them. One girl left in a cab while the victim joined the accused in a red Mercedes. They went to a bakery a little distance away, where they got off from the Mercedes and boarded an Innova. The driver of the Innova was made to get off.

The accused then took the vehicle to an isolated place in the posh Jubilee Hills area and raped the victim. Despite her parents asking about injury marks on her neck, the victim did not reveal anything. The father felt something amiss and complained to the police on May 31. The police registered a case and took the girl for counselling the next day, where she revealed the sequence of events.

Anand said that the girl did not know the identity of the accused; it was only after the BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao released a video that they started piecing things together. The accused had themselves posted several pictures and videos on their Facebook pages to brag. Incidentally, Rao has been booked by the police for releasing one of the videos at a press conference.

The police said that the name of the MLA’s son had been added as the sixth accused. He is one month short of 18 years. All the accused have been booked for gang-raping under 376D of the IPC and Sections 5 and 6 of the POCSO Act for penetrative sexual assault. The punishment of the offence can be as stringent as the death penalty or life imprisonment till death or, in less severe cases, 20 years of jail, the police commissioner said. He said the delay in the investigation was because everything had to be verified and reverified due to the severity of crime.

The accused have also been booked under the IT Act for circulating the videos and pictures of victim on social media. The police commissioner said that all video footage had been verified.

The police are yet to ascertain if the Innova vehicle was taken by the accused with the permission of the person to whom it had been allotted or if the matter was in the knowledge of the official. Anand, however, said that the investigation had shown that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to commit the crime at the pub.

Meanwhile, the National Commission of Women has asked for a report from the Hyderabad Police on the large number of rapes being reported in the city in recent days.

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