13-Year-Old Kidnapped, Repeatedly Gang-Raped By 8 People: Police

KEY POINTS

Eight people, including several minors, kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl in India
Authorities were able to rescue the girl on May 2 after her family filed a kidnapping case
Police have arrested four of the accused, while searches for the others are still ongoing

Authorities in India have arrested several people accused of kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl, according to reports.

The minor victim took an auto rickshaw that was being driven by a 20-year-old man named Shahrukh on April 24 to get to the market, IndiaTV News reported.

However, instead of taking the girl to her destination, Shahrukh and two of his friends, identified as Akash, 19, and a juvenile, took her to the village of Okhla, according to the outlet.

They then allegedly gave the victim a soft drink that was laced with an intoxicant before raping her in Shahrukh's auto rickshaw.

The group later brought the girl to the town of Tigri, where a man named Salman Chessy as well as four other boys gang-raped her, police were cited as saying by the Hindustan Times.

"The next morning, on April 25, Chessy and the four boys took her to Kosi Kalan in Mathura where they kept her for a day and brought her back to Tigri on April 26, where they kept her till April 30," deputy commissioner of police Benita Mary Jaiker said.

Aside from raping the girl, some of the boys threatened to cut the victim's neck with a broken beer bottle, and they also inserted a bottle in her private parts, the girl's father said, according to the Times of India.

The victim's family registered a kidnapping case on April 26. Police found the victim near a train station on May 2 with the help of a local who had seen a missing poster that featured the girl.

Following her rescue, the victim underwent a medical examination at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where it was confirmed that she had been sexually abused, according to Jaiker.

Authorities arrested Shahrukh, Akash, another suspect named Mohit, 20, as well as a juvenile on May 1 after they received a tip from an informant, according to the Hindustan Times.

All four confessed to their crimes, but they did not help police in identifying or tracing the victim.

Police have filed a gang rape case and invoked the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act over the incident.

Searches for the remaining accused are still ongoing, according to police. The auto rickshaw used by the suspects has also not been located.