AIMIM MLA's son named as accused in Hyderabad teen gang-rape

The accused was apprehended on Monday and sent to an observation home.

All six accused including one adult and five minors are now in police custody.

The first five have been accused under sections of gang rape, abduction, and voluntarily causing hurt as also sections of the POCSO Act, meaning they could get the death penalty, 20 years in jail or a lifetime in jail.

The sixth accused, who is the MLA's son, has been booked for outraging the modesty of a woman, voluntarily causing hurt and also sexual assault.

All accused are students belonging to Class 11 and 12 and reportedly hail from "politically influential" families.

One of the minors arrested is the son of a local leader of the state's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Another minor is the son of a TRS leader from Sangareddy town, reports said.

Shortly before the gang-rape inside the car on May 28, the 17-year-old victim was seen in security footage standing with the suspected attackers outside the pub where she had met them.

The boys had offered to drop her home. Instead, she was assaulted inside a parked car at Jubilee Hills, an upscale neighbourhood in Hyderabad. Her attackers took turns raping her while the others stood guard outside the car.

After the gang-rape, the boys dropped the girl at the pub and left. She then asked her father to pick her up.

When her father asked her about the injuries to her neck, she told him some boys had attacked her.

The police initially registered a case of "outraging modesty" based on the girl's father's complaint. It was changed to a rape case later.