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11-year-old gang-raped for month in Nagpur city, 9 arrested: Police
The purported gang rape, which took place between mid-June and mid-July in Umred town, around 60 kms from Nagpur city, came to light after one of the accused was arrested in connection with a murder case, police said.
An 11-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by nine people for a month in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city, police said on Thursday, adding that all the accused have been arrested.
The purported gang rape, which took place between mid-June and mid-July in Umred town, around 60 kms from the city, came to light after one of the accused was arrested in connection with a murder case, police said.
Roshan Kargaonkar (29) and his accomplice, Badal Lende (24), were arrested from Akola railway station on July 25 for allegedly murdering one Shubham Damdu (25) two days earlier, Sanjay Purandare, deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Nagpur rural, said.
It was during the course of investigation in the murder case and his past criminal activities that police learnt about the purported gang rape.
On June 19, Kargaonkar, who lives near the survivor’s house, visited her and asked her to accompany him to his house. The girl’s parents are labourers and were away for work when the accused visited her house, Purandare said.
The prime accused then raped the minor along with his friend Gajanan Murskar (40) at his house. They gave her some money and asked her not to reveal about the incident to anyone, Purandare added.
Days later, another accused raped the minor at Kargaonkar’s house. On July 15, Murskar and two of his friends raped the minor repeatedly and threatened her with dire consequences. The remaining accused joined and the assault on the minor went on for days, the DSP said.
“Kargaonkar and Murskar took turns to rape the girl. They silenced her by giving a few rupees and also threatening her,” Umred police station in-charge Pramod Ghonge said.
The remaining accused were identified as Premdas Gathibandhe (38), Rakesh Mahakalkar (24), Govinda Nate (22), Saurabh alias Karan Rithe (22), Nitesh Fukat (30), Pradumna Karutkar (22) and Nikhil alias Pinku Narule (24),
All the accused have been booked under sections 376 (d) (gangrape), 376 (2) (n) (repeatedly raping the same woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code besides the Protection of Children from Sexually Offences (POCSO) Act.
The girl was sent to a government-run medical college in Nagpur. The report confirmed that she was repeatedly gang raped, police said.
The girl’s parents said they were unaware of the incident. “We learnt about it only when local police approached us and narrated everything,” the minor’s father said.
