A 14-year-old girl died after being repeatedly raped by a man in an orphanage in Ameenpur in Telangana. The man repeatedly raped her after making her drink juice laced with sedatives. The girl died while undergoing treatment at Niloufer Hospital early on Wednesday.
Three persons, including a woman who ran the Maruthi orphanage, have already been arrested in connection with the rape. Based on the survivor’s statement, the Ameenpur police arrested 51-yearold Naredla Venugopal Reddy, a donor to the orphanage.
Because of his donations, the orphanage warden and her brother helped him commit the horrific crime. The police arrested the owner of Maruthi Orphanage Vijaya, who is also the hostel’s warden, and her brother Jayadeep.
The minor girl had been living in Maruthi orphanage in Sangareddy distrist and had moved to her maternal aunt’s residence under Bowenpally police station limits on 27 July during lockdown.
Her aunt found physical injuries. She was taken to a clinic, where the clinic staff informed the aunt about the sexual assault. The aunt approached the Bowenpally police with a formal complaint on 31 July.
Though the FIR on the sexual assault was registered at Bowenpally police station limits, the case was later shifted to Ameenpur police station under Sangareddy district. The DSP Rajeswara Rao said, “After interrogation of the arrested persons it was clear that one Venugopal Reddy raped her repeatedly.
Hostel warden Vijaya and her brother Jayadev supported him. She died in Nilofer Hospital undergoing treatment. We recorded her statement before her death. All culprits will be booked after this investigation.”
The Women and Child Welfare Department has already suspended the registration of Maruti Orphanage.
All 50 children at the orphanage were shifted to other Child Care Institutes (CCIs). In a statement to the media, the Director of Women and Child Welfare Department, D. Divya said an inquiry committee has been formed to investigate into the matter and a preliminary report is expected within a week.
Police have registered cases against the three accused in the sexual assault case under Section 376(3) for rape, Section 342 for wrongful confinement, Section 323 for voluntarily causing hurt, Section 328 for causing hurt by means of poison and Section 506 for criminal intimidation, under Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as under sections of the POCSO Act 2012. Now the murder case will be registered.
The SP Chandrasekhar Reddy says that further details can be shared after an extensive investigation.