Hyderabad gang-r*pe: One held, four other accused identified

Hyderabad, June 3:  Hyderabad police have arrested one accused and identified four others, including three juveniles, involved in the gang-r*pe of a 17-year-old girl in the city on May 28.

A police officer told reporters on Friday night that one of the juveniles will be apprehended on Saturday while police teams are on the lookout for three others.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Joel Davis refused to reveal the identity of the families the three minors belonged to.

"He is the son of a VIP", was all he said when asked if the juvenile to be apprehended on Saturday is the son of the Wakf Board chairman.

The police officer said the victim's statement and other evidences gathered so far show that a MLA's son was not involved in the crime. He also termed as 'baseless' reports that the grandson of home minister Mahmood Ali was involved in the case.

The accused committed the sexual assault in a vehicle after promising to drop the girl at her home when she was returning from a party at a pub in the posh Jubilee Hills area. After committing the crime, the accused dropped her near the pub.

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

Based on the complaint, the 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 took up the investigation.

"As per the standard operating procedure, after counseling the victim the police sent her to Bharosa Centre where lady officials made her comfortable and gave her confidence. It was only the next day that she revealed to the lady officials what happened and gave her statement," the DCP said.

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

On the direction of the City Police Commissioner, various teams were constituted which started collecting details.

"The victim was not in a position to reveal the identity of the accused as they were not known to her. Based on CCTV footage and other technical evidence, we identified the five accused, two of them major and three aged 16-17," he said.

The police have arrested Saduddin Malik (18), a resident of Puppalaguda area in the city. The other major accused is Omair Khan (18).

"We identified a juvenile based on specific leads but because of night time we could not apprehend him as per rules. We will apprehend him tomorrow during daytime," he said.

He exuded confidence that the remaining accused will be apprehended within 48 hours.

"We will not spare anyone, whoever they may be," he said, rejecting allegations that the police were going soft as the accused came from influential families.

He also clarified that as per the statement of the victim and other evidences gathered, no MLA's son was among the five persons involved.

The officer, however, said the investigations are on and once the victim is in a position to give a detailed statement, action will be taken accordingly.

The DCP said the assault happened in an Innova vehicle which was parked. He said the accused along with the victim boarded the Innova after alighting from another car when they had stopped at a pastry shop.