4th accused believed to be Telangana politician’s son arrested in Hyderabad gang rape | India News

HYDERABAD: A teenager believed to be the son of a Telangana politician from Sangareddy district was arrested Sunday for his alleged role in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in a car parked at an isolated place in Hyderabad’s upscale Banjara Hills neighbourhood on May 28.
Police have seized the car, an Innova, after five days of search and forensic experts collected samples on Sunday amid allegations that evidence has been tempered with to protect the five boys accused of raping the girl. The five belong to affluent and influential families.
The teenager arrested Sunday is the fourth suspect. Another politician’s son, 17, and two of his friends were rounded up over the past two days. The fifth accused is still at large. Police are expected to move court Monday to seek the custody of all the arrested quartet.
Police said the youngsters picked up the girl from an upscale pub in 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, which was seized on Saturday from a farmhouse in Moinabad, apparently belonging to a person with links to a Hyderabad-based party.
But it has been suspected that evidence, both inside and outside the car, has been tampered with either by the accused or by people known to them before police traced it. “We cannot say anything about it until forensic experts give us their deduction,” a police officer said.
Forensic experts collected samples from the vehicle to ascertain if she was abused by all the five inside the car. Hair strands, fingerprints and some other relevant samples were collected from the car.
Police were also seeking legal advice on an MLA’s son, who was initially cleared of any wrongdoing. He was seen with the girl in the Benz, but he didn’t get into the Innova in which the youngsters took the girl to the isolated place and raped her.
BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao held a press conference on Saturday and shared some videos, which he claimed connected the former to the offence.
Expressing deep sorrow over the gang rape, Telangana governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan has sought a detailed report on the case.