LUCKNOW: Mother of a minor girl along with the girl’s step-father and a maid was arrested here on Thursday for trying to strangle the girl on. March 13 last. The incident was reported from Gudamba police circle. The arrested were identified as victim’s mother Usha, her step-father Shyam Sundar, and maid Gyanu. The fourth accused in the case is absconding.

The victim Ankita (name changed) of Banaskantha district in Gujarat was brought to Lucknow by her parents on March 12 on the pretext that she would be married here. The parents along with a family friend and his maid took Ankita to the Kukrail picnic spot. They gave her some poisonous substance to drink and then tried to strangle her. Thinking that Ankita had died they left her there and sped away.

Later, the girl was found lying unconscious by a private security guard and an engineering student Akash Mishra. The duo wanted to take her to the police, but Ankita insisted on meeting her parents who were putting up at Atul hotel in Nishatganj.

Ankita was taken to the hotel, but by then her parents had fled. Later, she told her harrowing tale to the police. Ankita told police that she was raped in July 2007 by three persons whom she identified as Deepak Dan Gadvi, Mukesh Mali and Bharat Mali, all from Disa in Gujarat, who got away after committing the crime. Station Officer (SO), Gudamba, Sanjay Rai told TOI that Ankita’s mother, who works in Gujarat Electricity Board, took Rs 25 lakh from her daughter’s rapists to push the matter under the carpet.

After her rape, Ankita was forcibly admitted to a Nari Kendra in Gujarat by her mother Usha along with the help of a sub-inspector UR Thakur. The victim lived there for two years even as her elder sister Anjali along with her husband Yogesh made all efforts to get her free.

But before Anjali could secure Ankita’s freedom, Usha got the victim free from the Nari Kendra. Usha then along with her second husband Shyam Sundar managed to convince Ankita that her marriage had been fixed in Lucknow.

In Lucknow, the three met Ramesh Pandey, a property dealer, who lives in Aliganj. Ramesh, his maid Gyanu and Ankita’s parents then tried to kill the victim.