Runaway minor girl inmate of remand home gang raped

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by four men at an under-construction flat in Jaripatka area of the city on the intervening night of April 21 and April 22, the police said today.
Besides the four accused, the police today arrested two more persons for allegedly making available the flat for the crime, a senior police official said.
"The orphan girl is an inmate of the government remand home situated at Katol Road in the city," DCP (zone II) M Rakesh Kalasagar said, adding that she ran away from the facility along with three girls in the wee hours of April 20.

However, the girl was left alone in Satabuldi area by the three girls on April 21, the officer said, adding that the three girls still remain untraced.
On the night of April 21, Firoz Ahmed Jamil Ahmed (40), who runs a shop in Sitabuldi area, took the girl along with him in an autorickshaw to the flat in Jaripatka area, where he and his friends Swapnil Jawade (27), Mayur Barsagde (23) and Atul Janbandhu (22) allegedly raped the girl, the DCP said, adding that her ordeal continued till April 22 morning.
The accused then dropped her back at Sitabuldi, where she was spotted by a traffic constable on Friday evening, who in turn took her to the Sitabuldi police station, he said.

After the girl narrated her ordeal, the police today traced Ahmed and arrested him. The other accused were arrested subsequently from various areas in the city, the officer said.

The police arrested Pralay Meshram and Somil Nerkhadkar for allegedly arranging the flat where the crime took place, Kalasagar said.
An officer attached to the Sitabuldi police station said Ahmed, Jawade, Barsagde, and Janbandhu have been booked under sections 366-A (procuration of minor girl), 376 D (where a woman is raped by one or more persons constituting a group or acting in furtherance of a common intention), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), and 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of IPC.

They were also charged with the Protection of Children from the Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act.
The incident has caused a flutter in the police department, as the spot from where the girl was taken away by the main accused is barely 100 metres away from the Sitabuldi police station.
The incident came within ten days of the rape of a 17-year-old girl by two men in a room in the MLAs hostel in Civil Lines area of the city.