16-year-old girl raped in moving ambulance in Madhya Pradesh's Mauganj; main accused, driver held

The shocking incident in the ambulance being operated under '108' emergency service took place on November 22 and two of the four accused in the case, including the driver, have been arrested, police said.

Mauganj (MP): A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped in a moving ambulance in Mauganj district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

The shocking incident in the ambulance being operated under '108' emergency service took place on November 22 and two of the four accused in the case, including the driver, have been arrested, they said.

The girl, accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law, was travelling in the ambulance (none of them was a patient), said Deputy Inspector General (Rewa Range) Saket Pandey.

Besides the trio, two more persons, the driver and his associate, were inside the patient transport vehicle, he said.

Pandey told PTI that the minor along with her sister and brother-in-law, both later charged with aiding the crime, set off for their destination in the ambulance whose driver was known to them.

En route, the girl's sister and her brother-in-law got down from the vehicle on pretexting of fetching water. The ambulance driver, instead of waiting for the couple, sped away, said the officer.

Later, the driver's associate travelling with him, Rajesh Kewat, raped her in the moving ambulance at Sunsan village on November 22, he added.

After keeping the girl hostage for the whole night, the two accused dumped her on the roadside the next morning, the DIG said.

After reaching home, the survivor narrated the ordeal to her mother, who for two days did not approach police fearing the incident would tarnish the family's image, according to the IPS officer.

On November 25, the victim and her mother finally approached the police who registered a case against four people (aged 25 to 30 years), including the alleged rapist (Kewat), on their complaint, Pandey said.

He said two accused, ambulance driver Virendra Chaturvedi and his associate Kewat, were arrested on Wednesday.

A hunt has been launched to apprehend the girl's sister and brother-in-law, who have been charged with abetting the crime, said the IPS officer.

All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.