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Minor girl abducted, sexually assaulted for five days in forest near Ramshej fort; three arrested
PUNE: A girl, 15, who left her home in the Rahuri taluka of Ahilyanagar district saying she was going to college, was abducted and held captive in a dense forest for five days during which time she was subjected to repeated sexual assault
PUNE: A girl, 15, who left her home in the Rahuri taluka of Ahilyanagar district saying she was going to college, was abducted and held captive in a dense forest for five days during which time she was subjected to repeated sexual assault. The accused – identified as Muqtar Haidar Pathan, 18; Kaisar Haidar Pathan, 22; and Akash Sansare, 19 – were arrested by the Ahilyanagar police on Thursday.
The victim left her house in the morning on February 13 to go to college. When she failed to return by evening, her family combed the entire area but found no trace of her. They subsequently approached the Rahuri police station in Ahilyanagar district and filed a complaint. Given that the victim is a minor, the police registered a case of kidnapping and constituted special teams to track her down.
Under the guidance of senior officials, the police used mobile location tracking, CCTV footage analysis, and confidential intelligence to trace the girl. The investigation led them to a densely forested area near Ramshej fort along the Nashik-Surat highway. A rescue operation was launched, and the girl was safely recovered on February 19.
As per the victim’s statement, she was held captive in the forest for five days and subjected to repeated sexual assault. The police arrested the three aforementioned individuals in connection with the crime.
Somnath Waghchaure, additional superintendent of police of Shrirampur, said, “In this case, we have arrested three including the prime accused and those who helped them and provided logistic support.”
Sanjay Thenge, police inspector at Rahuri police station, said, “The prime accused is a truck driver who used to drive along the Chakan to Gujarat route. He along with his brother was arrested and another person who helped them execute the crime was also taken into custody by our team.”
Thenge said that they have recorded the victim’s statement according to which, the police have invoked sexual assault charges under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
As two of the accused are Muslims and the victim is a Hindu, communal tensions have erupted in the village with villagers observing a bandh and right-wing activists holding a rally and condemning the incident as targeting persons of a particular religion.
