The Hyderabad Police on Tuesday said that all five accused, including one major and four juveniles, have been nabbed in connection with the gang-rape of a minor girl in Jubilee Hills and could face death penalty or life imprisonment till death for the heinous crime.
The police have added one juvenile — said to be the son of an AIMIM MLA — as the sixth accused in the case. He is also apprehended.
The first five accused, including one major Saduddin Malik (18), have been booked under IPC sections 376 D (gang rape), 323 (causing hurt), 366 (kidnap), and various sections of the POCSO Act pertaining to aggravated penetrated sexual assault and the 67 section of the IT Act for circulating videos of the act.
“All five of them come under the above sections and the punishment would not be less than 20 years. A special court would be constituted for the trial. We have gathered very strong evidence against them,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand said in a late evening press conference.
The A6, also a child in conflict with law (CCL), did not take part in the rape but sexually molested the 17-year-old girl in a luxury car. He is booked under 354 (criminal force against women outraging her modesty) and 323 sections of the IPC and POCSO sections dealing with aggravated gang sexual assault. He could get 5-7 years imprisonment.
The teenagers kissed the girl by rotation and took videos which they later circulated among friends.
The five offenders later committed the rape in an Innova car, which the CP said “appears to be an official (government) vehicle.”
“We have cross-checked every footage, evidence as we had to be 110 per cent sure (since the case is high profile and became sensational),” Anand said.
The CP denied the charges that the A6 was booked only after the BJP revealed the photos and videos.