Mumbai, May 11 (Mid-Day): A group of teenagers playing cricket, managed to save a minor from being raped by a 15-year-old boy in Kurar on Saturday afternoon. They were playing near the jungle when they saw him take her deeper into it and grew suspicious. They followed them and caught the boy molesting her.

According to police officials, the four-year-old girl and the accused are neighbours at a slum in Kurar. On Saturday afternoon, the girl was playing when the accused told her to come with him, saying he would buy her chocolates. Her mother was at home while father was at work. As she knew the accused, she went with him. The accused was carrying a gunny bag with him, as if to show that he was a rag picker.

Police said he first took her near an old BMC school but someone saw them and asked him to leave the place. The accused then took her deep inside the jungle area. Luckily for the girl, the teenagers were playing cricket nearby. When they saw the minor accused taking her deeper in the jungle, they got suspicious. A police officer said, “Big rocks have been dug up from the ground near the mountain area, leaving behind huge holes.”

The accused, after reaching one huge hole almost about six foot deep, had taken the minor into it. He was touching her private parts and had removed his clothes. Police said the teenagers had followed them and caught him red handed. He was taken to Kurar police station, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, but as the girl was picked up from Samata Nagar police’s jurisdiction, the case was transferred there.

The accused’s mother, who was called to police station, broke down and was shocked by her son’s actions. She furiously told the police that they should either kill him or her, as she could not live with such an incident. The accused has been charged under Section 354 (outraging modesty) of the IPC and sections of POCSO Act. He has been sent to a children’s remand home.