On Saturday, the Gandhi Nagar police in Hyderabad arrested Nagaraju, a 19-year-old youth from Basheerbagh, for allegedly physically assaulting a 16-year-old girl, disrobing her and filming the incident. The charges have been filed for kidnap, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), and 67 A of the IT Act (Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act).

According to the police, the accused was in a relationship with the 16-year-old girl for the past eight months and had suspected her fidelity. He was allegedly very possessive of the girl, and took objection to her hanging out with other boys in their locality.

On March 2, Nagaraju allegedly picked up the girl at around 11.30 pm from her house and took her to DBR Mills, an abandoned place near Lower Tank Bund. He is said to have had sex with the minor, following which he accused her of being immoral. He then allegedly assaulted her and took a nude video of hers while she pleaded with him not to film her. He later dropped her home and is said to have shared the video with his friends.

When the girl found out about this, she told her friends.  Subsequently, they cornered Nagaraju and his friends at DBR Mills on March 5. Around 10-15 youths allegedly roughed up Nagaraju and his friends and forced them to delete the video. However, the girl's friends took a copy of the video in case the police came to arrest them for beating up Nagaraju and his friends.

After this, Nagaraju allegedly called up the girl on March 7, and they eloped from the house at around 10.30 pm. As she was missing from home, the girl's father approached the Gandhi Nagar police station on March 8 at around 1.30 am. Subsequently, the police registered a case of kidnap and two teams of police were engaged to search for the missing girl. However, since the girl's phone was switched off, there was a delay in the police tracing her.

"After rescuing the girl, she was sent for a medical examination at the state-run Gandhi hospital, and the accused was booked under relevant sections," Central Zone DCP Viswa Prasad said.