One held in 14-year-old girl's gang-rape case in MP; 2 on run

A32-year-old man was arrested on Monday in connection with the alleged kidnapping and gang- rape of a 14-year-old girl near here in Madhya Pradesh last week, police said.

The man, Rajendra Mehra alias Pradeep (32), is one of the three persons accused of kidnapping and raping the minor girl, Shahpura police station in-charge H Yadav said.

The incident took place on January 20 in Shahpura, around 45km from here, he said, adding the other two accused are still at large and a search is on for them.

The girl was on way to school when Mehra stopped and asked her to sit in his car, promising to drop to her destination, he said.

The victim was acquainted with Mehra as they hailed from the same village, Yadav said.

The girl got into the vehicle, an SUV, in which two more persons were already sitting, the police officer said.

Instead of dropping her to school, the trio took the girl to an isolated place where they raped her, Yadav said.

After the incident, the accused abandon the girl in Gotegaon in neighbouring district of Narsinghpur from where she took help of an old woman to call a relative, he said.

The girl did not reveal anything about the traumatic incident to the relative as the accused had threatened to kill her parents and other family members if she did so, the police officer said.

The girl narrated the ordeal to her parents only after they raised doubts over her character, he said.

Her father subsequently filed a police complaint on January 24.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered against the trio under relevant sections of the IPC, including 376 (punishment for rape) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police added.