VIJAYAWADA: Residents beat a 30-year-old autorickshaw driver black and blue for allegedly kidnapping and misbehaving with three minor girls of a missionary hostel in Machilipatnam on Monday late night.
The driver, identified as Anjaneyulu (30), has been arrested with the help of locals.
According to the local police, the three girls reside in a Christian missionary hostel in Chilakalapudi and are students of Class 8 at Navajeevan School for Girls.
On the day, when the three victims were proceeding to their hostel from school, the accused offered them a lift.
“Though the girls did not take up his offer, he forced them to sit in his vehicle at took them to an isolated place. Anticipating danger, the three girls threw chilli powder, which they had with them in their bags, in the accused’s eyes,” the police said.
They escaped from his clutches and narrated the incident to hostel authorities, who then approached the police. “With the help of the vehicle’s registration number, we were able to trace him and have taken him into custody,” the police added.
A case of sexual assault under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act was filed against the accused Anjaneyulu.
How it went down
Auto driver forces three girls to sit in his vehicle
He takes them to an isolated location
Girls, anticipating danger, fight him off by throwing chilli powder into his eyes