Mumbai, Jan 27 (Mid-day) : The boy is the 13-year-old girl’s neighbour and had kept a tab on her routine to find out when she went to have a bath; he would place his phone on the outer side of the exhaust fan and film her naked

The Vakola Police have launched a manhunt for a 17-year-old school-going boy for allegedly filming his neighbour, a 13-year-old girl, having a bath and circulating the clips on platforms like WhatsApp.

According to officials from the Vakola Police station, the boy is the victim’s neighbour and had kept a tab on her routine, because of which he knew what time she took a bath.

He would place his cellphone on the outer side of the exhaust fan in the girl’s bathroom and film her when she was naked.

In his statement to the police, the victim’s father has said that he had caught the boy many times while he was trying to peep inside the bathroom, but had let him off with a warning because the boy’s family members, and especially his father, have criminal backgrounds.

One of the cases against the boy’s father involves manhandling an on-duty constable.

“The boy stalked my daughter and tried to visit her school too. One of the boys who stays in our locality got an obscene video clip via WhatsApp and discovered that the girl in the clip was our daughter. We were shocked when he informed us about this and when we asked where he had got the file from, he said one of his friends had given it to him,” the father said in his statement.

According to the father, they approached the Vakola police station immediately after getting to know about this last month, but the First Information Report (FIR) was filed and the boy was booked on Saturday, following an investigation.

An officer investigating the case said, “We have recorded the statements of three minor boys to whom the accused had forwarded the MMS and have seized their mobile phones, but the prime accused is still absconding.”

“We suspect that he had made other clips too, but only investigation will reveal how many days this had been going on for and how many other clips were made. The mobile phone he was using to make the video is also yet to be recovered,” he added.

The boy was booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the IT Act. When the cops went to the boy’s house to arrest him yesterday, they found that he was absconding. Teams have been set up to find him.