21-year-old unemployed youth from Mumbai arrested
TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Friendship with a youth from Mumbai through a social networking site landed a 17-year-old girl from Canacona in trouble, as she was allegedly sexually assaulted and later ditched by her paramour, before she was rescued by Mumbai police.
The 21-year-old unemployed youth from Mankhurd-Mumbai has been arrested in this connection.
According to reports, Mumbai Police arrested the youth for allegedly sexually assaulting the minor from Goa, after she was rescued by the railway police from the Kurla station and handed over to a police team from Goa. Both the girl and the accused were brought to Goa on Tuesday.
Canacona Police Sub-Inspector Anil Goankar, who had gone to Mumbai, took the accused into custody, after the girl’s parents filed a case of kidnapping on the day she went missing.
The girl rescued by the Mumbai police was also reportedly brought to Goa, but it is not known whether she was handed over to her parents or sent to any protective home.
According to sources, the girl who is studying in Std 11 befriended a youth from Mumbai and fell prey to his invitation to visit Mumbai following a marriage proposal.
After the friendship grew stronger over a social site for over 6 months with a scrap dealer’s son, who incidentally used a fake name, the girl went to Mumbai by boarding a train at Margao on January 8. She reportedly left her residence to attend her college, but instead reached Margao from where she boarded the train to Mumbai.
According to reports attributed to Mumbai police, once the girl reached Mumbai, the accused met her at Kurla Railway Station and took her to his friend’s house in Dharavi where he sexually assaulted her. The next day, he bought her a Burkha (veil) and a mangalsutra for Rs 40 to convince neighbours that she was his wife.
According to Kurla Railway Police Sub-Pnspector R S Sakpal, the accused dropped the girl at Kurla station on January 10 and switched off his cell phone.
The same evening, railway police personnel spotted the girl at the station. When they confronted her, she told them that she had been ditched by her paramour.
Based on the girl’s description where she had stayed in Dharavi for two days, the railway police combed the area and nabbed the accused. The railway police immediately contacted Goa police and reported the matter.
Canacona PSI Anil Gaonkar went to Mumbai and took the accused into custody, as a kidnapping complaint by the girl’s mother was already registered at Canacona police station.
The girl rescued by the Mumbai police was also reportedly brought to Goa, but it is not known whether she was handed over to her parents or sent to any protective home
