Petbasheerabad police seize Bandi Sai Bageerath’s iPhone in POCSO case

The Petbasheerabad police arrested Bandi Sai Bageerath in a POCSO case and seized his iPhone for forensic analysis. Investigators plan to seek his custody for further questioning and may invoke Section 21 of the POCSO Act against persons who failed to report the alleged crime

Hyderabad: The Petbasheerabad police have seized the iPhone of Bandi Sai Bageerath, who was arrested on Saturday in the POCSO case registered following a complaint filed by a minor girl’s mother on May 8.

Sai Bageerath, who had been absconding since the case was registered against him, was arrested on Saturday night by the Special Operations Team of the Cyberabad police at APPA Junction near Narsingi. However, contradictory claims were made about him having surrendered before the police.

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After taking him into custody, Sai Bageerath was shifted to the Petbasheerabad police station, where the police questioned him for about two hours and recorded his statement. His mobile phone was seized. Ritiraj, DCP (Kukatpally), who is supervising the investigation, was present at the police station.

After the questioning, at around 11.30 pm, he was taken to a primary health centre at Medchal for medical examination and was later produced before a magistrate, who sent him to 14-day judicial custody. He was later shifted to the Central Prison, Cherlapally.

The police will send the mobile phone seized from him for forensic analysis of the data stored on the device, which could play a crucial role in linking Sai Bageerath to the crime.

The police are now exploring the possibility of invoking Section 21 (Punishment for failure to report or record a case) of the POCSO Act, which punishes a person who fails to report a case or files a false complaint, though it explicitly exempts the child victim from any such liability. The police learnt during the investigation that some persons known to Sai Bageerath were aware of the alleged sexual assault on the minor girl but failed to inform the police through any of the available channels.

Meanwhile, the police will file a petition on Monday seeking custody of Sai Bageerath for further investigation in the case. The police intend to take him to four places where the victim was allegedly subjected to sexual assault.

On Saturday, the Petbasheerabad police, along with the Qutbullapur Tahsildar, visited the four places and conducted a panchnama.

In the complaint, the mother of the victim stated that some other persons were also suspected to be involved. Hence, the police mentioned “Bandi Sai Bageerath and others” in the First Information Report.

The legal team of Sai Bageerath is also expected to file a bail petition in the court on Monday.