Hyderabad: Days after a 17-year-old girl told Bharosa Centre officials that she had been raped allegedly by a 24-year-old man from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, the minor went missing from her aunt’s flat in Malakpet in the early hours of Tuesday, prompting police to register a kidnapping case and launch a search operation.The girl allegedly locked her aunt inside the flat before leaving the apartment around 2.30 am. Police suspect she was later picked up by the accused, a neighbour of her grandmother’s family from Addagudur, against whom a Posco case had already been registered.According to police, the girl’s 24-year-old aunt approached Malakpet police on Tuesday morning, stating that her niece, who stays with her and studies at a junior college in Hyderabad, had locked the flat from outside and gone missing.Realising that the door had been latched from outside, the complainant sought the help of the apartment watchman to get out and searched the neighbourhood for the teenager. After failing to trace her, she informed family members and approached the police. Based on her complaint, Malakpet police registered a case under section 137(2) (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.In her complaint, the aunt alleged that the family suspected the involvement of a 24-year-old man from Addagudur. A Pocso case had been registered against him on July 10 after he allegedly trespassed into the girl’s grandparents’ house in Addagudur on July 8 to meet the teenager during her visit there.Initially, Addagudur police booked the accused under sections 329(4) (criminal trespass) and 78 (stalking) of the BNS, along with section 11 (sexual harassment) read with section 12 of the Pocso Act.However, during her statement before officials at the Bharosa Centre in Bhuvanagiri on July 13, the girl alleged that the accused had raped her on an earlier occasion. Following her statement, police on July 14 altered the case to include section 64 (rape) of the BNS and section 3 read with section 4 of the Pocso Act relating to penetrative sexual assault.“We furnished the details of the girl before the court on Tuesday morning and altered the sections. We could not arrest the accused immediately as the statement of the girl could only be recorded on Monday,” Ramannapet circle inspector N Venkateshwarulu said.By the time the case was altered, the girl had already left her aunt’s residence. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused allegedly picked her up on a motorcycle from Malakpet. Police said both their mobile phones were switched off.Teams from Malakpet and Addagudur police stations are searching for the duo and efforts are on to trace their whereabouts.
