Hyderabad: Fourth accused arrested in girl’s gang rape in SUV

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad police on Sunday arrested the fourth accused allegedly involved in the gang rape of the 17-year-old girl in Jubilee Hills on May 28. The accused, also a minor, is believed to be the son of a political leader from Sangareddy district.
On Monday, Jubilee Hills police are expected to file a petition in the Nampally court to seek the custody of all the accused for further investigation. Most of them belong to influential families. Meanwhile, a day after cops seized the SUV in which the girl was allegedly assaulted, forensic experts collected samples from the vehicle on Sunday to ascertain if she was abused by all the five inside the car. Hair strands, fingerprints and some other samples were collected from the vehicle.
The SUV was seized from a farm house in Moinabad on Saturday, apparently belonging to a person with links to a Hyderabad-based party, after five days of search. But there are still doubts about the evidence, both inside and outside the car, being tampered with — either by the accused or by people known to them — before the police traced it.
“We cannot say anything about it until forensic experts give us their deduction,” a police official said. On May 28, the girl was picked up by the five accused from a pub in Jubilee Hills from where they travelled in two different cars to reach a bakery in Banjara Hills. From there, except an MLA’s son and a few others, the rest got into a SUV where the girl was allegedly raped.
Police seek legal advice on MLA’s son
hile the MLA’s son had been initially given a clean chit by the police, they are now seeking legal advice on the matter. This after BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao held a press conference on Saturday and shared some videos, which he claimed connected the former to the offence.
(The victim's dentity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)