Andhra: Police continue to hunt for two more accused in minor girl rape case
Jan 02, 2024
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], January 2 : The Visakhapatnam Police continues to hunt for two more accused in the 16-year-old girl rape case. The police have arrested 11 people in the case so far, produced them before the court and subsequently sent them to a 14-day remand.
During the investigation, it came to light that the minor girl was allegedly raped by 13 men, including nine photographers, over a week, police said. Special teams have been deployed to nab the remaining two accused in the case, they said.
According to DCP Srinuvas Rao, the victim's father had shifted to Vishakhapatnam from Odisha along with his family. While her father works as a watchman in an apartment in Visakhapatnam, the victim worked as a domestic help.
DCP Srinuvas said that on December 17, the victim went to a hotel room with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend had physical relations with her and later called his friend to the hotel who raped her. After being raped by her boyfriend and his friend, the victim reached the RK Beach in Visakhapatnam to die by suicide.
However, at the beach, a local man who takes photographs of tourists started having a conversation with her and then tricked her to get into a lodge with him and raped her, DCP Srinuvas said.
The photographer also took her to another room with eight to nine photographers who raped her for three days from December 20 to 22, the DCP said.
The DCP stated that the girl managed to escape from their clutches and left for Odisha. She was found in Odisha on December 25 when her father had filed a missing complaint report, police said.
Meanwhile, the incident has attracted some political heat, with former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu putting up a post on 'X' criticising the Jagan Mohan government.
"My head hangs in shame, and my heart aches at this heinous crime in Vizag. Criminals continue to hurt our daughters and sisters without fearing the law because they know there is no law and order in a YSRCP-ruled Andhra Pradesh. Forget women empowerment, YS Jagan's vision seems to only empower criminals who prey on women," Naidu said in a post on 'X'.
