A district court sentenced a 28-year-old man to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping and raping a girl, an official said. District Judge P P Jadhav convicted Shahrukh alias Sajid Mohammad Mustikim Shaikh under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Three others, who were tried for abetting the crime, were acquitted for want of sufficient evidence.

In his submission, the prosecutor told the court that the girl, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, was 16 years old at the time of the incident and lived with her parents at Kashimira in Thane district. On October 16, 2014, the Std XI student did not return home from college, following which her parents filed a missing person's complaint with the local police, the prosecution stated. The next day, some neighbours informed the parents that Shahrukh had kidnapped the girl.