Ballia (UP) Apr 11 (PTI) A man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl, who was rescued from Maharashtra, police here said.

The Uttar Pradesh police received a call from Mumbai police regarding the girl who was allegedly kidnapped from UP, taken to Mumbai and abandoned at the railway station, Superintendent of Police (SP) Dev Ranjan Verma said.

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The girl was rescued on Wednesday and she told the police that she was allegedly raped by Ajay Turha, the SP added.

The 23-year-old accused, Turha, a Ballia resident, allegedly lured the girl on April 1 and took her away, he said. Based on the complaint filed by the victim's mother on April 4, a case was registered against Turha under the Indian Penal Code sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping) and 366 (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc), SP said.

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After the victim's statement, the IPC Section 376 (rape) and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act were also added to the case, he said.

Turha was arrested from Ballia on Thursday. Further investigation is underway, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)