Shalini Goli, a resident of the Rajanna Sircilla district of Telangana, was on her way to the local Hanuman temple with her father Chandraiah. The 18-year-old from Sircilla town regularly accompanied him to the temple on Tuesday mornings.
However, Tuesday, 20 December was different. CCTV footage seemed to show the girl being abducted at around 5.30 am.
It showed a man coming out of a vehicle and apparently forcing Shalini into the car as both she and her father tried to resist. Three others assisted the “abductor”.
Chandraiah later told the police that he tried to chase the car down on his two-wheeler, but failed.
Based on his complaint, the Vemulawada police registered a case under IPC section 362 (abduction) against four people and started their investigation.
However, in a twist, the “kidnapping” probe of the Telangana police came to a screeching halt when Shalini released a video on social media around 2.30 pm claiming that she was now married and that she was not under any duress.
‘Abducted’ girl clears the air
Her husband, it turned out, was the same 25-year-old — whom the police identified as Katkoori Gyaneshwar alias Johnny — who was the main accused in Chandraiah’s complaint.
Shalini, who turned 18 barely a couple of months ago, said in the video on social media that she was in love with Gyaneshwar for four years.
However, her father did not endorse their relationship, and instead fixed her marriage to someone else.
As a result, she married her boyfriend around a year ago, but the marriage was deemed illegal.
As a result, the police counselled her (in a Sakhi centre) and handed her back to her parents because she was a minor.
On that occasion, Gyaneshwar had to spend time in prison because he was a Dalit, she claimed in the video.
Shalini also said in the video that she was seen resisting in the CCTV footage from Sunday morning because she did not identify Gyaneshwar as his face was covered.
“I married him of my own will and wasn’t forced into it,” she said in the video.
South First obtained video footage of the “abduction” as well as the ones posted by Shalini.
#Telangana: In a twist in the #Sircilla '#Kidnapping' case, new videos show the girl saying that she only called her boyfriend to pick her up (named as an accused) and could not recognise at first as he was "wearing a mask".@TheSouthfirst pic.twitter.com/mlLi8V0Nc0
— Ajay (@ajaytomarasks) December 20, 2022
Police still searching
Meanwhile, Vemulawada Deputy Superintendent of Police Nagendra Chary told South First: “We are still searching for the girl to know the complete details.”
He, however, confirmed that the Telangana police knew of the video Shalini released on social media where she said that she had not been kidnapped.
Despite that, he said, the police were looking for the girl to ascertain the facts.
He did not rule out the possibility that she clicked the pictures and released the video statement under duress.
