Cyber love turns horrid for Canacona girl

MARGAO: A 17-year-old girl from Canacona who fell in love with a 21-year old man in cyberspace found herself kidnapped and abused by her "Facebook prince" in the slums of Dharavi, Mumbai, recently, and is also believed to have been sexually assaulted.
Canacona police, who have already booked a case against the accused, have taken him into custody from the Kurla railway police who arrested him on Sunday and is being brought to Goa.While the accused has been named as Sirtaj Ali, a resident of Mankhurd, Mumbai, by Kurla railway police, Canacona police said that his identity will be ascertained upon his arrival in Goa.
Police sources said that the girl "met" the accused on a social networking site some six months ago when the duo became friends on Facebook. As the virtual friendship bloomed into romance, though in cyberspace, Ali invited the girl to Mumbai promising to marry her.
The girl, who had fallen in love with Ali, decided to head to Mumbai. On the morning of January 8, she left home on the pretext of going to school, but instead went to Margao and boarded a train to Mumbai. At Kurla railway station, the duo met for the first time in real time and space. From that moment onwards, the girl's dreams began to crumble.
Ali, who was known to her on Facebook as Mohammed Ali, and had posted an impressive-sounding profile about himself, was in fact, the son of a scrap dealer, and had studied up to Class XII in a college in Navi Mumbai, police sources said.
From Kurla railway station, Ali took the girl to his friend's house in Dharavi where he is believed to have sexually violated her. To ensure that his neighbours suspected nothing amiss, he bought her a burkha (veil) and a mangalsutra the next day to suggest that he had married the girl. After confining her to Dharavi for two days, Ali dropped the girl at Kurla railway station on January 10 and fled, switching off his mobile phone to ensure that he could not be contacted, police sources said.
Kurla railway police noticed the girl moving aimlessly at the railway station the same night and questioned her. Once she narrated her ordeal, the cops swung into action. Based on the description of the place, as provided by the girl, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted, Kurla railway police combed the area and nabbed Ali.
On being informed by their Kurla counterparts, a Canacona police team went to Mumbai and took Ali into custody.
"Based on the complaint filed by the victim's mother after the girl went missing, we had lodged a complaint against a suspect mentioned by the mother on January 8. Upon arresting the suspect, we came to know that the suspect was not the culprit but was known to the culprit and that the girl had gone to Mumbai to meet him. A police team was sent to Mumbai but the accused was already arrested by Kurla railway police by then. The accused has been taken into custody and is being brought to Goa along with the victim and her parents," Canacona police said.
Canacona police have booked a case against the accused under Sections 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC and Section 8 of Goa Children's Act.
"If it is proved from medical examination that she has been raped, further charges will be added to the case," Canacona PI Harish Madkaikar said. tnn