CHENNAI: Koyambedu all-women police have arrested a teenager’s ‘online’ boyfriend and an auto-rickshaw driver for allegedly raping her. The police had launched a search for the missing girl based on a complaint filed by her mother on Sunday. The cops triangulated her mobile phone location to trace her to a lodge room in Bengaluru. The team stormed the room and rescued the 17-year-old girl. The police also nabbed a man staying with her.

During questioning, the girl confessed to the police that she had left her house to meet her boyfriend in Tiruvannamalai, whom she had encountered on social media. While en route to Koyambedu in an auto-rickshaw, the driver Radhakrishnan, 47, took the girl to a secluded location where he sexually assaulted her. Later, she escaped his clutches, and boarded a bus to Tiruvannamalai, where she met up with her boyfriend Vignesh, 26, of Mumbai. The duo then headed to Bengaluru and took a room at a guest house, where her boyfriend initiated sex with her on the false pretext of marriage.

Based on her confession, the police arrested both Vignesh and Radhakrishnan under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and the duo was remanded in judicial custody.