Three men, including an Uber driver, rape runaway teenage girl

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A 17-year-old who'd run away from home after a fight with her stepmother survived a month after being tortured by three brutes who'd promised to help her, but allegedly repeatedly raped her instead. Two of the rapists were caught on Thursday; one of them is an Uber cab driver.

Speaking about how the horror unfolded, senior inspector Ravindra Chaudhar of Alandi police station said, "On September 11, the teenager had a fight with her stepmother on some petty issue, after which she left from home. When she was walking on the road, a man named Ramchandra approached her then took her to a lodge, assuring he'd help her. Once they were at the Chandra lodge, raped her there." He added, "The next day, after they left from the lodge, the girl started crying. So, he threw her in the middle of the road and left. Then at night, when she was thirsty, the Uber driver named Abdul approached her. He showed her his ID card and under the pretext of taking her to police station, but took her to his friend Vijay's house instead. Vijay then proceeded to rape her for two days."

"Then, Abdul came back to Vijay's house and the survivor told him about how she'd been sexually abused. Abdul took her to his house, where he raped her. He kept the girl in his house," said Chaudhar. This is when his neighbour Komal More went missing. By then, the teenager's mother had also approached the Alandi police station to file a kidnapping complaint. "When the Nigdi police were looking for More, she was found with the teenager in Shirdi. During investigation, we caught Abdul and Vijay based on the description we were provided. We are trying to trace the first man, too."

Now, rape and POCSO sections have been added to the case as well. The Uber driver, identified as Abdul Ahmed Shaikh was nabbed on Thursday in Dighi, while his friend Vijay Nanaware was caught in Bhosari. Ramchandra is still at large. The survivor is undergoing treatment at a Pune-based government hospital. Chaudhar said, "Uber must verify the character of such drivers."

Uber says...
An Uber spokesperson said, "This incident is deeply upsetting. However, we understand that this is an off platform incident. We stand ready to support the law enforcement authorities in their investigation. While we ensure all driver partners undergo stringent background checks and police verification when joining the platform, the access to the app stands cancelled with immediate effect in case of any police complaint against any individual."

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