HYDERABAD: The 17-year-old son of a politician holding an important position in the Telangana government was arrested on Saturday along with his friend on the charge of gang-raping a girl in a car in the upscale Hyderabad neighbourhood of Banjara Hills on May 28.
Police had picked up another suspect — an 18-year-old — on Friday. The two arrested on Saturday were produced before the juvenile justice board because of their age. “Five accused persons were identified in this case. Efforts are on to arrest the other two, who are on the run,” police said.
Of the five, two boys belong to families of politicians in Hyderabad and Sanga Reddy. This has spurred calls to transfer the investigation to the CBI, with BJP’s Telangana unit alleging that state police were trying to cover up.
BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao alleged that an MIM MLA’s son was involved in the alleged gang-rape and some of the suspects have fled to Dubai to evade arrest.
Police said the youngsters picked up the girl, 17, from a posh pub in the upmarket Jubilee Hills, went to a bakery in Banjara Hills, and then took her at an isolated spot in the neighbourhood where they took turns to rape her after nightfall on May 28. CCTV footage shows the girl getting into two cars — a Mercedes Benz outside the pub and an Innova car at the bakery. She was raped allegedly in the Innova. Investigators said the boys had used sun blockers on the windows of the vehicle before committing the crime.
The girl’s father reported the incident to police on May 31 and a case was registered accordingly. The girl later gave a statement to police after which rape charges were included in the FIR.
The crime triggered a political uproar as Jana Sena activists staged a protest Saturday in front of the Jubilee Hills police station demanding the arrest of the accused. The protesters were taken into preventive custody.
Police were expecting more protests following the demand to hand over the case to the CBI.
Senior BJP members N Ramachander Rao, general secretary Bangaru Shruthi and former MLA NVSS Prabhakar met DGP M Mahender Reddy and submitted a representation asking for a CBI probe. They alleged that Hyderabad has been recording such crimes more often these days because of police “laxity in auditing pubs and restaurants”.
“How were minors allowed in a pub? Police did not look into issues like who booked the pub for the event,” said BJP MLA Raghunandan.
