BENGALURU: A 32-year-old cellphone shopkeeper accused of raping a minor girl by brandishing a

and acquitted by a local court, says months later he is yet to overcome the trauma caused by the charges foisted against him.

came about after the girl and her mother deposed that they had never seen the accused, Srinath AV, a resident of Judicial Layout.

On July 23, 2018, Yelahanka New Town police booked Srinath, alleging he had posed as a police officer, kidnapped the 17-year-old girl after brandishing a gun-shaped cigarette lighter, took her in his car to a room and raped her.

The case was registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and Srinath was sent to jail.

In November, judge M Latha Kumari acquitted Srinath after the girl and her mother said they had never seen Srinath. The girl’s mother told the court that her daughter was missing and she lodged a missing complaint, but later found her in a relative’s residence. She had neither seen the accused nor given any statement against him, she said.

The girl disputed the Yelahanka New Town police version, saying she did not even know Srinath. She said she was staying at a relative’s house.

The judge in her order stated the allegations were baseless, pointing out that when the girl herself had not backed police allegations, the prosecution case did not have any substance.

“A false case was filed against me. Vested interests were demanding ransom as my brother and I were prospering in our business. We were threatened with dire consequences, if we did not pay up. Some people in the past also openly threatened and my brother was abducted and assaulted. However, police did not arrest the accused and all this happened later,” said Srinath.

Srinath said his family too is traumatised as the entire rape drama was cooked up only seven months after his marriage. “I had never seen the girl or her mother,” he said.

The case as per police

According to police, the girl and her friend were sitting in a park near her college and Srinath came in a Swift Dzire car and pointed a gun-like object towards them. Srinath later followed the girl while she was walking home, pushed her into his car and took her to a room in Chikkabommasandra, where he raped her at the gunpoint. After that he made her consume anti-pregnancy pills and threatened her against revealing what had happened to others.

The case was probed by Manjunath, then inspector of Yelahanka New Town police, and

, who replaced him later filed the chargesheet in October 2018.