Five-year-old girl raped in Gujarat her distant relative held

Mahisagar (Guj), May 15 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her distant relative in Mahisagar district of Gujarat after being lured away from her house, police said Thursday.
The 35-year-old accused, identified as Shankar Khant, was later nabbed from a forest area near their village, and placed under arrest, they said.
The accused lived in the same village as the girl and was her distant relative, a police official said.
He lured the victim when she was playing with her elder sister at their house, and took her to a farm where he raped her before fleeing from the spot, Mahisagar Superintendent of Police Jaydeepsinh Jadeja said.
The victim was severely injured and rushed to a nearby hospital. From there, she was referred to the civil hospital in Godhra city where she was undergoing treatment, he said.
"Considering the seriousness of the crime, police registered an FIR and formed teams. Using drones and on the basis of technical surveillance and sources, the accused was caught within a few hours of the incident," he said.
Separate teams were formed and intensive search was carried out to locate the accused, a statement issued by the Mahisagar police said.
Police scanned CCTV footage, analysed cell tower dump data and operated drones to locate the accused who had managed to escape deep inside a forest near the site of the crime, it said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)