A 15-year-old mentally challenged girl was allegedly kidnapped and gangraped by an auto-rickshaw driver and his two accomplices in Baraut area of the district.
The incident happened when the girl was returning to her hometown in Tonica area in Ghaziabad on November 27 after living with her maternal grandmother at Chaprauli for about a month and half, Station-in-charge Vijay Singh said.
The girl somehow got separated from her mother while they were travelling back to Ghaziabad, following which the victim took an auto-rickshaw to Baraut, he said.
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Singh said that the driver Vikas (35) and his two friends -German and Manoj - took advantage of the fact that the girl was mentally challenged and took her to some place in Baraut where they allegedly gangraped her.
Later, the accused left the victim near Tonica and fled.
"Meanwhile on November 27, the victim's family had lodged a complaint of her missing in which they had named Vikas and his accomplices on the basis of suspicion," he said.
He said that police recovered the girl from Tonica yesterday following which a case of kidnapping and gangrape was lodged against the accused today.
Singh said that Vikas has been arrested and efforts were being made to arrest his accomplices.
The girl has been sent for medical examination, police added.
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A few days later when the victim filed her complaint,
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had termed the incident as "sajano ghatana" (fabricated case), triggering a controversy.
Damayanti Sen, the then Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner (crime) had pursued the case and identified the five accused. She was later shunted out from her post.
Three of the five accused were arrested and two including prime accused Kader Khan absconded.
Nine months after the victim died of meningitis in March 2015, the city sessions court had convicted the accused persons - Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj - and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
