3 minor girls raped in Defence Colony, Delhi; 4 held

Three school girls were allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted in the national capital by a man, who had planned to sell them in Chandigarh but all the girls managed to escape, police said.

The girls were kidnapped from South Delhi's Defence Colony area and were taken to Rohini on August 6 where they were allegedly raped.

The police added that they have arrested four persons, including two women in connection with the case.

The accused were identified as Bangali Lal Sharma (45), Sandeep alias Shanky (36), Ruksana (40) and Jyoti (19).

However, the fifth accused Prakash alias Sanjay alias Minto is absconding.

A senior police official said that on August 6, the father of one of the girls lodged a complaint with the Defence Colony police station that his daughter went to school in Delhi's Andrews Ganj at 7.30 a.m. by her school van.

At 2 p.m., the school van driver informed the victim's father that his daughter did not go to school by the van.

The police came to know that apart from this girl, two other girls were also found missing from the same school.

On basis of the father of the victim's statement, a case under section 363 of the IPC was registered at Defence Colony police station and the investigation was taken up.

The police formed a team of elite officials, who questioned the school staff, classmates of the missing girls and their relatives. The police team also examined the CCTV footage of the area.

"Meanwhile, information about the girls was received about their movement in Karol Bagh area. After making sincere efforts, they were traced from Karol Bagh area and were medically examined. The victims told the police that they were sexually assaulted," a police official said.

The victims told the police that the accused took them to a house in Rohini area and they were sexually assaulted.

Immediately, a police team travelled to Rohini area and reached the house wherein the missing girls were kept after kidnapping.

"One Bangali Lal Sharma was found there and on enquiry, it was learnt that he used to run a syndicate of selling the girls along with a woman named Ruksana. As per the statement given by the girls, Sharma was the person, who along with the absconding accused Prakash alias Sanjay alias Minto had taken them to Rohini. The girls were offered drinks laced with sedatives. Minto sexually assaulted the three girls," the police said.

The police added that the victims managed to escape while Minto tried to take them to Chandigarh for selling them. The victims fled away from there and reached Delhi's Karol Bagh area by an autorickshaw.

During the raid at the house of accused Minto, Sharma were apprehended along with the two women -- Ruksana and Jyoti.

The police said that they have added sections 328/366A/370/376/506/120B/34 of the IPC and six POSCO Act in the FIR.

Both the accused women were also present in the room when the alleged incident of rape took place.

Both Ruksana and Jyoti have been arrested and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

The accused, Sharma and Shanky, who used to help in selling girls from one place to another were also arrested.