(Representative image)

Pune: A 16-year-old girl, who was brought here from West Bengal on the pretext of a job, has allegedly been tortured and forced into prostitution for the last two years.

The minor victim has alleged that she was raped by over 100 persons, including cops.The girl escaped to Delhi last month and lodged a complaint there. On Saturday, the case was transferred to Pune police and accordingly, an FIR has been registered against 113 persons.

Vimantal police station arrested a 26-year-old woman in this regard on Sunday.

Incidentally, this case is connected to the recent revelation of the attempt to rape and torture a model from Delhi, who had escaped with the minor girl to the capital last month. In this case, four more accused have already been nabbed by officials of Chandan Nagar police station.

The arrested accused has been identified as Swikriti Kharel (26), a native of Nepal, who lives in Viman Nagar. Those arrested by Chandan Nagar cops are Rohit Bhandari (35), Harish Shaha (25), Tapendra Sahi (23), and Ramesh Thakula (25), all Nepal natives, who live in Kalyani Nagar.

The other accused named in the complaint include Shakti, Anna, Bharat, and others, all part of the sex racket in the city. Cops said the minor girl hails from the Nepal-India border region in Siliguri. Her father had left her mother, who later became mentally unstable. Her grandmother ran a tea stall, where Bhandari used to come to buy cigarettes and saw the victim. He promised to get her a job at a beauty parlour in Pune and brought her here in January 2014. The first few days went smoothly, but later, she was forced into prostitution. The accused raped her, also drugging her and making her engage in sex with multiple persons.She was kept at locations like Sanjay Park, Viman Nagar, Kharadi, etc. As per the survivor's complaint, Swikriti took her to Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bhopal for this racket, too.

Later, the girl was brought to Pune again and kept in a flat at Nyati Empire society in Kharadi, where she was forced to have sex with more `customers'. She was also beaten and forced to undergo an abortion when she became pregnant. It was from this flat that she fled to Delhi last month, along with another 24-year-old model, who was allegedly given cigarette burns after she refused to perform sexual favours in exchange of helping her become an actress. They came out of the flat on the pretext of going to a beauty parlour and fled the city.

The incident had come to light in March when the 24-year-old was admitted in a Delhi hospital for burns treatment and hospital authorities informed cops. Delhi police registered a zero FIR and sent the case to Pune, where it was taken up by the Chandan Nagar police.

Senior police inspector in-charge of Vimantal police station, Sanjay Kurundkar, said, “The minor girl's medical test was conducted in Delhi. She has also given a statement before a metropolitan magistrate. We have arrested one accused, who has been remanded in police custody till April 22. We will move an application for custody of the four accused earlier arrested by Chandan Nagar police.“

Assistant police inspector P B Kolte from Viman Nagar police chowky is investigating the case.

