Four people sent to 6-day police custody in minor girl's abduction, sexual abuse case

Kolhapur, Oct 30 (UNI) Four accused, who are allegedly involved in the abduction and sexual abuse of an eight-year-old girl, have been sent into six-day police custody here on Wednesday.

The four accused, arrested on Tuesday, have been identified as Rohit Gajanan Jadhav, Saurabh Makardhwaj Mane, Shubham Nitin Bhosale and Shakib Abdul Sheikh.

According to police, they abducted the minor on October 27 from Radhakrushna Chowk in Ichalkaranji, and later abused her sexually over a period of two days. The crime has sent shockwaves in the neighbourhood as huge crowd gathered outside the Ichalkaranji Magisterial Court, and hurled slogans at the four accused as they were brought to the court under security cover.

The crowd not only abhorred the four of them but also demanded death penalty. The case gathered more steam as several NGOs and political parties met with the Additional Superintendent of Police Shreenivas Ghatge,appealing for maximum sentence for the culprits.

Giving a memorandum to the Ichalkaranji Bar Association, the Yugandhara Foundation asked the association to refuse legal defence to the accused.