With the arrest of a 23-year-old man, the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Monday claimed to have cracked an alleged case of rape of a minor.
The arrested accused is a cousin of the victim, police said. Initially, a complaint of gang rape had been filed in the case, they said.
On August 24, a 16-year-old girl, resident of a village in Jewar area, was returning home after sewing classes when she was "kidnapped and raped", police said.
An FIR was registered at Jewar police station on August 29 amid allegations of "delay" in filing the case, which officials refuted.
The accused was arrested from Jahangirpur bus stand this morning and is a cousin of the victim from her maternal side, Station House Officer SS Bhati said. The arrested man is a resident of Munda Kheda village in Bulandshahr district's Khurja area, he added.
He has confessed to having made the girl drink beer and raped her at an isolated spot near Dastampur, the SHO said.
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"On inputs received from the accused, police went to the spot and recovered the beer cans and also impounded the motorcycle used in the crime," he added.
According to the FIR lodged at Jewar police station, the victim was kidnapped by "two" men who assaulted and raped the girl before dumping her near her home the next day.
The FIR was registered and charges under Indian Penal Code section 376 (rape) besides the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the official said.
However, charges under the SC/ST Act were dropped since both belong to the same community, Bhati said.
Asked about the "delay" in registering an FIR, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Vineet Jaiswal said it was filed immediately after the victim reached them.
"The incident took place on August 24, but the girl did not come to the police immediately, she may have been under some pressure or something. The day she along with her father approached the police at Jewar police station, the FIR was lodged and probe taken up, Jaiswal told reporters.