West Godavari District Police, who arrested five people charged with exploiting indigenous girls through promising jobs in the KR Puram Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), are investigating the role of staff in the case.
Police have recorded a case of sexual harassment and are trying to arrest ITDA project officer RV Suryanarayana, who has been named as the main defendant in the case.
“The ITDA project officer allegedly abused his authority and carried out illegal activities in the ITDA office and government quarters in the village of Kota Ramachandrapuram (KR Puram). In addition, the tribal girls were reportedly taken to the project officer’s guest house, ”said West Godavari Police Superintendent K. Narayan Naik.
Suryanarayana allegedly sexually harassed an ITDA employee in his office. He transferred the agency employee to Eluru after she refused to give in to his demands, the SP said.
Video clips go viral
The project officer reportedly gave money to the other defendants who allegedly acted as mediators in the tribal girl trap. However, differences arose when Suryanarayana refused to pay the mediators more money. Two of the defendants filmed a woman’s testimony and uploaded the clips to a social media group that went viral, police said.
The accused were all natives of the Buttaigudem, Koyyalagudem and Jangareddygudem mandals of West Godavari district. Meanwhile, the police arrested K. Hemanthu Naga Venkata Pavan aka Ramana, the sixth defendant in the case. All six defendants were brought before the Jangareddygudem court on Wednesday, Narayan Naik said.