Hyderabad teenage girl gang-rape case: 1 accused arrested, 4 others identified

Hyderabad West Zone DCP said that the involvement of an AIMIM MLA's son as alleged by the Telangana BJP has not been mentioned by the 17-year-old victim as of now.

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Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police has arrested one Tajuddin Malik, 18, in the sensational gang-rape of a 17-year-old minor girl. A total of five culprits have been identified based on the statement given by the victim. Apart from Tajuddin Malik, another person Umair Khan, 18, has been identified while the three others are juveniles in conflict with law. While one juvenile, who has been identified, will be picked and produced before the court tomorrow morning, the special police teams have been looking for others. 

According to Hyderabad west zone deputy commissioner of police, Joel Davis, the incident took place on May 28 evening after 5.30 pm. "The victim and the culprits attended a daytime ``nonalcoholic'' , ``nonsmoking'' college fresher's party at a pub from 1.30 pm to 5.30 pm. After 5.30 pm, the victim went with the five accused in a Mercedes Benz car. However, after travelling for distance, the victim and the culprits shifted to Toyota Innova car. At an isolated place in Jubilee Hills area, the victim was sexually assaulted by five of them, in turns, in the Innova car itself,'' the DCP explained.

Though the incident took place on May 28, the victim, who was in shock, could not tell her parents properly about the ghastly incident that took place. "On May 31, the victim's father registered the complaint of "outraging the modesty'' as he was not aware of the exact incident. On June 1, as per SOP ( standard operating procedure ) our senior women police officers counselled the victim and gained her confidence when she narrated the entire sequence,'' Joel Davis elaborated.

After the victim's statement, the case was altered to sections 354 ( IPC ), 323 IPC apart from POSCO act. "Immediately we started looking at CCTV footage, CDR ( Call Data Records ), corroborating everything the victim disclosed about the culprits though she did not recall the names of four. With the one name she had given to us, we identified four others,'' the DCP said.
Importantly, the DCP clarified that the name of an AIMIM MLA's son as alleged by the Telangana BJP did not figure in victim's statement as of now. "The investigation will continue and if the victim gives any further details as and when she is in a position to do so, we will investigate accordingly. We will not spare anyone however high and mighty they are,'' the DCP reiterated.