Kalyan: In a shocking incident, a 16-year-old minor girl was allegedly lured and gang-raped by two men inside a rented house in the Kalyan East area. Kolsewadi police have arrested both the accused and booked them under the stringent Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act alongside charges of gang rape. The arrested individuals have been identified as Akhtar Maniyar (59) and Salim Sheikh (65). According to investigators, Maniyar operates a tea stall near the Kalyan Agricultural ProduceMarket Committee (APMC), while Sheikh works as an auto-rickshaw driver.According to the police, the victim works as a ragpicker. Maniyar allegedly lured the teenager to his residence under pretenses. Once she was inside, he called his friend Sheikh over, and the duo proceeded to sexually assault her. The horrific ordeal came to light in the early hours of Sunday morning when alert neighbors heard the minor sobbing and crying out in distress from inside Maniyar’s locked house. Sensing foul play, the residents immediately alerted the Kolsewadi police. A police team rushed to the spot, rescued the survivor, and took both the accused into custody directly from the crime scene.The incident triggered widespread anger among residents, who claimed that Maniyar lived alone in the rented apartment and frequently brought women to the house. Locals have demanded a thorough investigation into his background, fearing that this might not be an isolated incident.The gruesome assault has ignited a political firestorm, with both factions of the Shiv Sena taking an aggressive stance on the incident. Representatives from the ruling Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), including former corporator Mahesh Gaikwad and Maya Kamble, visited the Kolsewadi police station to review the investigation. Speaking to reporters, Gaikwad condemned the act, calling it a “stain on the culture of Kalyan-Dombivli” and demanded the death penalty for the perpetrators.Meanwhile, the opposition Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction used the incident to launch a scathing attack on the state government’s law enforcement record. Advocate Neeraj Kumar of the Sena (UBT) criticized the administration’s focus on cash-transfer schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana, arguing that real women’s safety is being neglected. He alleged that leaders show up at police stations only after a tragedy occurs, but concrete security measures remain missing on the ground in the Kalyan East area. The Kolsewadi police stated that further investigations are underway, and the victim has been sent for a medical examination and treatment.
