Police scan lodges where minor says was raped

“We will first identify the lodges and investigate whether the manager or owner of the lodge had been aware of the girl having been taken there in the last two years. If our investigation reveals that the managers or owners had not bothered to verify the motives of adults accompanying a 12-year-old girl,we will book the owners for abetment,” said senior inspector,Saki Naka police station,S R Dhanedhar.

He added that the police had recorded the girl’s statement a second time and she had stuck to her version.

The family of 71-year-old Jamuna Prasad Sharma,among those arrested,is worried for his health and about his son Rajiv,38,and grandsons (from another son) Guru and Raju,all named by the girl.

“My father-in-law has survived three heart attacks and the doctor had warned us a fourth one could be fatal. My husband has gone to Shirdi and both nephews are at their village as their mother passed away due to a tumour,” Rajiv’s wife said.

“It was a shock when they took my father-in-law away,but we were alarmed to learn that my husband and nephews had also been accused of raping the same girl. We are clueless about why the girl and her family want to destroy us and our dignity. She would often come to play with my daughter who is of her age,but she never showed any sign of having undergone such an ordeal. If my family members had raped her then why did she keep coming?” said Rajiv’s wife.

The family alleged that the girl’s aunt had been interested in a “partnership” in Sharma’s business and property and,having been refused,might have held a grudge.

The girl and those arrested had medical tests on Tuesday.