
Four tribal girls gang raped in M.P.'s Balaghat; police nab seven men
Seven men were arrested on Friday (April 25, 2025) for allegedly gang raping four tribal girls, including three minors, when they were returning from a wedding in Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat district, police said.
According to the police, the horrific incident took place on April 23 around 1 a.m. in the Hatta police station area when the four girls, who were returning from a wedding, were abducted by the men and taken to the nearby woods.
Balaghat Additional Superintendent of Police Vijay Dawar told The Hindu that one of the accused was below 18 years while the other six were adults, and that they also beat up the girls' uncle who had accompanied them. The accused belong to the OBC community, he said.
A case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 351, 70(1) (2), and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was filed based on a complaint from the survivors' families. The girls were aged 13, 15, 16, and 21 years.
He said that the complaint was received on Friday morning and the accused were nabbed in the evening. 'We have brought the girls to the hospital for their medical examinations,' he said.
Mr. Dawar said that the girls were from Duglai village and the accused hailed from neighbouring Bhagatpur, and that the girl's knew one of the accused as their families worked as farm workers in his fields.
'The girls had gone to attend a wedding in Thakur Tola village. While returning when they were crossing Bhagatpur, the men caught hold of them, beat up the uncle and took the girls and gang raped them,' he said.
Another police officer at the station said that the accused had also attended the same wedding and had chased after the girls on their bikes.
'They hit one of the bikes the girls were travelling to stop them,' he said, requesting anonymity.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bengaluru gold smuggling case: After ED and CBI probes, Kannada actor Ranya Rao now faces I-T investigation
The Income Tax (I-T) department will investigate the wealth of Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who was arrested in a gold smuggling case, with a special court for economic offences in Bengaluru Monday allowing its application to question her in prison. The special court dismissed the objections raised by Rao's lawyer and permitted the I-T department to question her in prison from 10 am to 5 pm between June 11 and June 13. The assistant director of I-T (Investigations) applied last week seeking court permission to record the statement of Rao, 33, at the Bengaluru Central Prison regarding her earnings from alleged gold smuggling activities. The I-T department argued that the actor, who was arrested on March 3 from the Bengaluru International Airport for smuggling 14.2 kg of gold worth Rs 12.56 crore, was involved in the smuggling activity by using resources generated from 'unexplained sources and cash'. It sought to probe the unexplained sources by recording her statement in prison over a three-day period. B S Girish, the counsel for Rao, argued that the provisions of the Customs Act and the I-T Act are distinct, and so she cannot be compelled to give a statement under the provisions of the I-T Act, which would be contrary to Article 22 of the Constitution. The special public prosecutor of the I-T department, however, argued that I-T authorities are empowered to investigate and that she needs to be probed about the huge cash she allegedly mobilised and circulated for acquiring and selling gold from Dubai. 'The objections of the accused No.1 as to the statement U/s.131(1) of the Act is contrary to Article 22 of the Indian Constitution cannot be accepted as the Act very much permits the recording of statement as a part of investigation, in view of the applicant being vested with powers of a civil court,' the special court ruled Monday. 'The other objections as to the Customs Act and IT Act being distinct enactments in itself will not come in the way to permit the applicant/Department to investigate into the allegations against the accused No.1 on the basis of credible information,' the special court said. Ranya Rao gold smuggling case timeline On May 3, The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested Rao from the airport on her arrival from Dubai with concealed on her body. On March 9, the DRI arrested Telugu actor Tarun Konduru, a US passport holder, after he was identified as an alleged accomplice of Rao in the gold smuggling racket. On March 26, the DRI arrested Sahil Jain, 27, a hawala dealer and associate of Rao, who allegedly received the gold smuggled by the actors and transferred funds through the hawala route to Dubai for the purchase of more gold. The DRI alleged that Jain played a central role in disposing of 49.6 kg of gold worth Rs 40.13 crore, smuggled from Dubai by Rao, between November 2024 and February 2025. It also claimed that Jain transferred Rs 39.39 crore of Rao's earnings to Dubai. Rao is the stepdaughter of the senior Karnataka IPS officer K Ramachandra Rao. She is alleged to have used airport protocol services available to her father to escape customs checks and detection at the Bengaluru airport on arrival from Dubai. The DRI also alleged that Rao and her associates smuggled 100 kg of gold in the 2024-25 period. It said Jain is part of a sophisticated smuggling network operating in India and abroad. A prosecution complaint was filed against him by the agency in a Kolkata court on March 5, 202, in a case involving the smuggling of 41.64 kg of gold. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are also investigating the gold smuggling case from criminal and money laundering angles and have registered cases. The ED recently carried out searches on properties, including offices of an education trust belonging to Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on the grounds that there had been monetary transactions between the trust and Rao. The trust, headquartered in Tumakuru in Karnataka, is alleged to have made a payment of Rs 40 lakh towards her credit card bills. Courts in Bengaluru granted Rao, Konduru, and Jain statutory bail after the DRI failed to file prosecution complaints (chargesheets) against them within 60 days of their arrest. However, the accused trio remain in prison on account of the Union Department of Revenue invoking the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act, 1974, against them on April 22. The COFEPOSA Act allows the preventive detention of persons for a period of up to one year. Last month, her mother H P Rohini filed a habeas corpus plea in the Karnataka High Court over the continued detention of her daughter. The matter was, however, adjourned by two weeks on June 3 after the court was informed that the advisory panel for confirming the COFEPOSA detention order of Rao was yet to meet.


New Indian Express
34 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Six held for raping minor in Andhra's Sathya Sai
ANANTAPUR: Six men accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in Yedugurrallapalli village of Ramagiri mandal have been arrested and remanded, Sri Sathya Sai district Superintendent of Police V Ratna announced on Monday. The SP, along with Dharmavaram DSP B Hemanth Kumar, revealed case details during a press briefing at the district police office. The assault occurred at different times, and the arrests were made on Monday. The arrested are Acchampalli Vardhan (21), Badagorla Nandavardhan Raj alias Nanda (23), Boodida Rajanna (49), Boya Sanjeeva (40), Haryanacheruvu Nagaraju (51), and Talari Murali (25), all from Ramagiri mandal. Following a complaint from the victim, police registered a case and launched a probe. The case was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), POCSO Act, SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the IT Act. SP Ratna said special teams under Dharmavaram DSP and Ramagiri CI V Sridhar tracked and arrested the accused. Police revealed that some of the accused were also previously involved in coercing families to stay silent about illegal abortions of minor girls. Investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest the remaining suspects. The SP assured that all efforts are being made to ensure justice and to prevent crimes against women and children. Dharmavaram Two Town CI Reddappa and other staff also attended the press meet.


New Indian Express
34 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
26-year-old held for molesting 7-year-old girl in North Delhi
NEW DELHI: A seven-year-old girl was allegedly molested by her neighbour in a North Delhi colony on Monday, police said. The accused, a 26-year-old man, has been arrested after being thrashed by locals, police said. According to the police, the girl, a resident of Subzi Mandi, was allegedly molested by a person on Monday around 9:30 am when she was playing outside her home. She informed her mother about the incident who further told her husband. Later, they came to the Subzi Mandi police station to report the incident. 'After receipt of information, a case has been registered under appropriate sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in Subzi Mandi police station. The accused has been apprehended,' DCP (north) Raja Banthia said said, adding that further probe is underway.