A 17-year-old girl was gang-raped allegedly by six persons here for about a week.
The incident came to light when the girl, who was dumped at the bus station, disclosed her ordeal to the personnel at the police outpost late on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal said.
The girl from Nellapadu in Guntur district struck a friendship with Ramu in Vijayawada when her father was undergoing treatment in a private hospital. Both had been in touch over mobile phone for over two months. The girl ran away from her home to meet Ramu in Ongole on June 16 after her mother chided her.
When she could not reach Ramu over phone, a man offered to help her find him and sent her with Balaji, a differently-abled person.
Balaji provided her shelter in a room and promised to find Ramu. Later, he sexually assaulted her, followed by repeated sexual assault by five others on the following days, the SP said.
Six teams had been formed and sent to different parts of Andhra Pradesh to nab the accused, the SP said, adding “we are close to achieving a breakthrough.”