The Kakinada III Town police arrested four men on Tuesday who have been accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl. The incident took place on Sunday evening in Kakinada town of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.
“The incident allegedly occurred when she was walking back home from her grandmother’s house on Sunday around 6.30 pm. Bobbili Prithviraj, who lives in the same locality as her, stopped his bike and asked her to accompany him. He took her to a friend’s house nearby, where he was joined by the other three,” Kakinada III Town police said.
According to the police, the teenager was in a relationship with Prithviraj, which is why she trusted him. The house where the incident occurred belonged to one of the three other accused, whose wife was away when the girl was taken there. The complainant has said that the four men locked her inside a room, physically restrained her and took turns to sexually assault her.
She has also alleged that the men took photos and videos, in order to blackmail her into silence. In spite of the threats, she came forward with her parents to file a complaint with the police on Monday. The police have taken the four accused, Prithviraj, Shyam Kumar, Sai Kumar and Sai into custody on Tuesday.
“The complainant has said that the accused have taken photos and videos of the assault. We are yet to investigate the case further,” said the Kakinada police.
Police have said that the girl, who was earlier admitted in the hospital, has now recovered. A case has been filed against the four accused under section 376 D (for gang rape).
A similar case had surfaced in Karnataka earlier this month, where a video of a 19-year-old college student being sexually assaulted by four men was circulated. The woman was being threatened and traumatised for a couple of months by the time the police saw the video in circulation and took suo motu action. The police arrested the men accused of raping the woman, as well as those who had been circulating the video.
The modus operandi is similar to the Pollachi sexual assault and extortion racket that came to light earlier this year, where men would shoot videos of sexual acts with women, and use the videos to blackmail them for money or sexual favours.