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SURAT: Three persons , including brother of a former sarpanch , were arrested by cops on Thursday from an area under the limits of Udhna police station on charges of rape and kidnapping a 13-year-old girl in September.

The minor desired to have a mobile phone and thus landed in flesh trade because of the accused, police investigation revealed. Ramesh Gajjar, 55, brother of Gothan village’s former sarpanch; Priyanka Priyadarshini Paikaray, 20; and Rohit Gupta, 21, were arrested by police on the charges of kidnapping and raping the minor girl under Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Police suspect involvement of one more person in the crime.

Paikaray, who knew the minor girl’s mother, used to arrange girls for her male clients. The girl’s mother used to provide a room in her house to clients of the accused for leisure for Rs300. Paikaray came in touch with the rape survivor during her frequent visits to her house, police said.

The girl expressed her desire for a mobile phone to Paikaray, who asked her to come along.

The minor girl left her house on September 13 without informing her mother and met the accused woman. The duo then went to Katargam where Gajjar, a businessman, took the minor girl to Dindoli on his motorcycle. Gajjar raped the girl in a house and then asked her to leave, police said.

Gajjar paid Rs11,000 to Paikaray who bought four pairs of clothes for the minor girl, but didn’t give her a mobile phone that she wanted. The girl returned home on September 16 and told her mother that she had gone to Nandurbar and spent two days at the railway station. The girl’s mother had approached police when the minor went missing. Police asked the girl’s mother to send her daughter for medical examination, but she didn’t agree to this.

“The girl and her mother initially said they did were not victims of any crime. Police had started the process to close the case when they approached us again. The woman claimed her daughter had been raped,” said a police officer of Udhna police station.

Police investigation revealed that Rohit used to help Paikaray find clients. Medical examination of the girl confirmed that she was raped.

