Minor’s gangrape: One more arrested

Based on the description given by the girls, the police arrested two suspects, Ataf Patel (26) and Armaan Khan (22), within hours of the crime. Police were on the lookout for the third suspect, an autorickshaw driver identified as Shamsuddin Khan (28). He
was picked up from Jogeshwari Saturday.

Police said the victims, aged 11 and 16, were walking to their Oshiwara home with their ten-year-old brother Friday morning when an autorickshaw pulled up near them and the driver offered them a lift.

After ferrying them a short distance, the driver stopped the autorickshaw near Gandhi School in Behram Baug in Oshiwara. The other two suspects arrived in another autorickshaw. The three men allegedly molested the two girls, who raised an alarm. The older girl and her brother managed to escape and ran to a nearby police station. Police personnel went with them to the scene of the crime, where they found the younger girl. The three suspects fled when they saw the approaching policemen.

Altaf is a mechanic and has a criminal record at Oshiwara police station, while Armaan is unemployed, police said.

The suspects have been charged under Sections 363 (kidnapping) and 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 376 (D) (gangrape) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
“A probe is on,” said senior inspector Nasir Pathan.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com