Thane:

A 28-year-old man from Murbad taluka in Thane district was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping his 17-year-old girlfriend, police said on Sunday.

Police investigation based on CCTV camera footage and technical analysis disclosed that the girl was last seen with the accused on August 17 on her way to school.

Police caught the accused from Sheerdhon village in Kalyan and rescued the girl on August 23, an official said.

He said police tracked down the accused after he called up his friend using his mobile phone, giving away his location.

The accused was booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita. A court remanded him in police custody till August 27.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court has taken cognisance of the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls at a school in Badlapur near Mumbai. The case has sparked massive protests across the city with demands of death penalty for the 23-year-old cleaner allegedly involved.

The cleaner, who was arrested on August 17, allegedly assaulted the girls in the school’s toilet.

Having taking suo moto (on its own) cognisance, Bombay High Court will take up the matter for hearing today. The case will be heard by a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan.

The government has ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by senior IPS officer Arti Singh to probe into the alleged sexual assault of the KG girl students.

The outrage has also been fuelled by the the fact that the parents of the girls were made to wait 11 hours at a local police station for a First Information Report. The three police personnel involved have been suspended by the government.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has also assured action against the school, adding that the case will be fast-tracked and the guilty won’t be spared.

Mumbai:

Mumbai Police have arrested two people and registered a case against them for kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl in a moving taxi. According to the police, the victim girl had a fight with her family members and decided to go to Malvani in Malad to meet her relative. Seeing her alone, a taxi driver asked to drop her off to Malwani, after which the victim girl started going with him towards Malwani. The accused taxi driver took a taxi to Dadar where he made accused Salman Shaikh sit with him and started moving ahead.

After getting information about the girl’s disappearance, the family members of the victim girl contacted the Malabar Hill Police Station and informed them about the kidnapping. A case was registered as she was underage. Police started a technical investigation and found that the girl had gone to a relative’s place in the Malad area.

A team was sent there to bring back the girl and an investigation began as soon as the police got the news of her missing. However, the situation became serious when the girl revealed what had happened to her while on her way to Malad, police said.

A police officer further said that there were two men inside the taxi, one of whom was the driver and the other was the person who raped the girl in the back seat.

Different teams were formed to investigate the taxi through various methods including CCTV footage.

According to the police, the incident allegedly took place between Dadar and Malad. Police confirmed that the two accused have been identified as Shriprakash Pandey, a taxi driver, and Salman Shaikh, both aged between 25 and 27 years.

Police said that the accused Salman Shaikh works in a hotel in Dadar.

Based on the statement of the victim, the police registered case under section 376 of IPC and related POCSO sections.

The police produced them in the court where the court sent them to police custody till September 25.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)