Eleven men were arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl hailing from Odisha on different occasions in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, police said on Monday.
Under the pretext of celebrating the girl's birthday on December 17, 2023, a migrant labourer from Jharkhand, with whom the girl got closer, took her to a room where she was raped, said an official.
"He brought his friend who also sexually assaulted the girl," Visakhapatnam Zone-1 Deputy Commissioner of Police K Srinivas Rao told PTI.
Unable to bear the mental trauma, she went to the R K Beach in the port city to end her life. However, a local man who ekes out a living taking photographs of tourists entered into a conversation with her. He then took her to a lodge and sexually assaulted her.
Later, she was taken to another room, where eight to nine of the photographer's friends raped her, the official said.
The girl managed to escape from their (photographer and friends) clutches and left Visakhapatnam.
Following a missing complaint lodged by the girl's parents, she was found in Odisha and was brought back to Visakhapatnam on December 25, police said.
Police said that the girl was raped by the photographer and his friends on December 20, 21 and 22. They are also probing whether she was sexually assaulted on December 18 and 19 also.
Rao said police altered the missing case into a rape (IPC Section 376) and added the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO).
