Rape victim, family consume poison outside SSP office in UP

A minor rape victim and her parents, on Monday consumed poison outside the office of Senior Superintendent of Police in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district.

They were shifted to a local hospital for treatment.

Police have also recovered a suicide note from them in which they have alleged that the negligence of the police forced them to take this extreme step.

SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary, however, refuted the allegation and said that two accused in the case had already been arrested, while teams were constituted to nab the third one who was absconding.

"The case was registered about a month back and soon after an accused, Vishal Maurya -- a resident of Ghazipur district, was arrested. The main accused Zamir Alam -- a resident of Varanasi -- too was arrested a few days back. However, the third accused, Utkarsh Tiwari, is on the run," the SSP said.

According to the police, the girl's father had lodged a case of kidnapping against Vishal and Utkarsh at the Cantonment police station on October 20, a day after she went missing.

On November 15, Zamir, Vishal and Utkarsh were booked for rape after the 17-year-old girl returned to her parents and narrated her ordeal.

Circle officer (Cantt.) Mohammad Mustaq said: "Section 376 (rape) was added in the FIR -- registered against Utkarsh, Vishal and Zamir on the basis of the victim's statement."

According to the victim, she came across Zamir, who had claimed to be a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) with the railways, at the Cantt. railway station when she was on her way to Ballia in the first week of October.

Zamir reportedly told her that he had good contacts in Bollywood when the girl said that she wanted to become an actor.

The girl fled her home on October 19 and reached the Cantt. railway station where she found Zamir, his accomplice Utkarsh and five girls. She said that all of them travelled to Mumbai together.

Police said that according to the girl, she was accommodated in a hotel in Mumbai where she was given sedative-laced food due to which she fell unconscious.

She said that on regaining consciousness, she found herself lying naked and realised that she had been raped. She was also reportedly raped by Vishal.

She said that a woman entered her room and told her that Zamir had sold her.

The girl told the police that she finally managed to flee from the hotel and returned to Varanasi on November 15.IANS