

MUMBAI: A 14-year-old girl who left home to commit suicide after her parents opposed her friendship with a boy was allegedly kidnapped and was raped in Bandra on Tuesday.

An auto driver provided her shelter after she later went to Borivli and roamed around at night. She returned to her residence in Bandra the next afternoon and filed a rape case. The Nirmal Nagar police arrested Alpesh Mohite (22), Ashish Gupta (21), Nayan Devadiga (23), Sachin Gupta (23) and Sanjay Jadhav (24) and produced them before a court on Friday. The court remanded them to police custody till June 5. One of those arrested was known to the victim.

The police said the class VIII student was friendly with a boy from the locality. Her parents restricted her movement after they learned about her friendship, took away her mobile phone, and warned her.

The victim left home as she was disturbed.

She was walking towards the highway planning to commit suicide when some persons stopped their car close to her. One of them, known to her, told her to accompany them. She allegedly told them to drive her wherever they wanted as she did not want to return home.

The group took her to an isolated spot where one of them raped her. The other accused allegedly molested and attempted to rape her when she screamed for help.

The accused abandoned her and fled in the car.

She then went to Bandra station and boarded a Borivli-bound train. In Borivli, the auto driver spotted her and gave her shelter for the night. The next morning, he dropped her to Borivli station, from where she went to a relative's house in Virar, but it was locked. She then visited another relative, who convinced her to return back home.

She told her parents about the incident, after which they took her to the police station. The police have registered cases of rape and kidnapping and arrested the five accused on Thursday.

