The Hyderabad Police on Saturday took two more persons in custody in connection with the gangrape of a 17-year-old girl, taking the total arrest in the case to three, reported The Quint.
Both the accused persons arrested on Saturday are minors, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) Joel Davis, according to The Quint. A day ago, 18-year-old Saduddin Malik was arrested.
Two persons are still absconding, the police said. One of them, Umraan Khan, is 18 years-old and the other is a minor.
One of the minors who has been arrested is the son of a top Waqf Board official, The New Indian Express reported.
On May 28, the girl and her friend had gone to a pub to attend a party where she was allegedly befriended by the accused persons, according to the police. They offered to drop her home but instead took her to a secluded spot and allegedly gangraped her, the police said.
They added that the accused persons dropped the girl back at the pub and left.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Raghunandan Rao had alleged that the grandson of state Home Minister Mahmood Ali was involved in the gangrape, according to Deccan Herald. Davis, however, said that the allegation was baseless.
Meanwhile, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Friday asked the Hyderabad Police to explain why there was a delay of three days in registering a first information report on the matter, PTI reported.
The police have said that the girl’s father lodged a complaint on May 31, three days after the assault. The girl had told her father that she might have been molested but she could not disclose what exactly happened as she was in a state of shock, the police said.
The child right’s body has also sought that an FIR be registered against the pub for allowing the entry of minors, PTI reported.
On Saturday, several Bharatiya Janata Party workers held protests in front of the Jubilee Hills police station in Hyderabad seeking action against the culprits. Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay demanded that the case should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“We are not agitating because the victim is a Hindu girl, we will do the same for justice if she was from any other community,” he said.
State Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao said that he was “outraged and shocked” at the incident. He urged the state home minister and the police to take immediate action in the matter.
“Please don’t spare anyone involved irrespective of their statuses or affiliations,” he said. KT Rama Rao is the son of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
In response, Mahmood Ali said that strong action will be taken against the accused persons, irrespective of their background.
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