MANGALURU: Police arrested a
Mangaluru man, who, along with four others, had allegedly
sexually abused three minor, mentally challenged girls from Mysuru for two years. Police are looking for the four absconders.
The three siblings — aged 16, 17 and 18, from Udayagiri police limits — were sexually abused in different locations. Mysuru-based NGO Odanadi Seva Samsthe (OSS), which took up the initiative to expose the crime, said the girls were pushed into prostitution, details of which will be obtained after a thorough investigation.
The arrested has been identified as
Aban, aged 30.
According to Odanadi directors KV Stanley and ML Parashuram, the minors were daughters of single mother from an economically backward family. A man who lived nearby befriended the girls. He lured them with goodies and took them away with the help of four friends, who are from Bhatkal, Mangaluru and Bengaluru.
Rape accused taken to Mysuru
The accused sexually abused the girls and took them to Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Mandya. After the girls went missing, their mother, a domestic help, approached the NGO. A case was registered at Udayagiri police station. Police tracked down the victims and brought them to Odanadi Samsthe for counselling and rehabilitation. During counselling, the girls provided details of the abusers.
On Tuesday, one girl was made to call the mastermind from Mangaluru and he was tracked. As soon as he reached the city to meet the girls, Mangaluru City police arrested him and took him to Mysuru for investigation.
Stanley said: “We got a hint about the prostitution when the girls showed us the places where the accused had taken them. Some places were lodges where prostitution was being carried out. One place is in Mandya which police had recently raided.”
(Representative image)
