Mumbai: Auto driver abducts, rapes minor; leaves her to die in Aarey forest

Sent on an errand by her mother a fiveyearold was kidnapped by an auto driver very close to her home in Andheri and raped multiple times in the forest in Aarey Colony on Sunday evening The driver abandoned her in the jungle and she was found by a patrolling constable a few hours laterThe spot in Aarey colony where the girl was raped and abandoned by the auto driver The survivorrsquos medical report confirmed that she was raped and that unnatural sex was performed on her Her condition is criticalThe girl whose father is also an auto driver sustained severe injuries and is battling for her life at Cooper Hospital while the police are trying to identify and nab the accused driver According to police officials the survivor was playing with her friends outside her residence in JB Nagar Andheri on Sunday eveningAround 730 pm her mother gave her some money to get milk from a nearby shop When the survivor didnrsquot return home even after half an hour her family members looked for her in their locality and then registered a missing complaint at Sahar police stationldquoAround 1045 pm constable Prakash Wanjhare who is attached with unit IX of the Crime Branch was returning home from Ghatkopar on his bike when he found the survivor stumbling along on the road near Picnic Point in Aarey Colony The survivor was crying and calling out for her motherShe told Wanjhare that a rickshaw driver had left her in the forest and pointed to the direction in which he had fledrdquo said an official from Aarey police station Police officials said the auto driver had kidnapped the girl from near her residence taken her to the Aarey Colony forest area through Marol naka and raped her several times before fleeing around 1030 pmThey say that despite sustaining severe injuries the girl walked out onto the road from the jungle where she was found by Wanjhare Realising that the girl had been raped Constable Wanjhare took her with him on his bike and tried to identify the driver who had done that to herHe stopped twothree rickshaws on Aarey Colony road and asked the survivor if she could identify the driver When that proved futile he took the survivor to the Aarey police stationProbeThe survivor lost consciousness at the police station and Wanjhare and others got her admitted to Cooper Hospital immediately and informed her family They registered a case against the unknown auto driver under IPC Sections 363 kidnapping 376 rape 377 unnatural offences and relevant sections of the POCSO Act against the unknown rickshaw driverThe case was transferred to the Sahar police for further investigation Police are trying to catch the accused using CCTV footage from the Marol toll naka but say that several auto rickshaws pass through there every hour and the number plates are blurred in the footage Since the girlrsquos father is also an auto driver the cops suspect that the accused may be known to the familyCriticalThe survivorrsquos medical report confirmed that she was raped and that unnatural sex was performed on her Her condition is critical