When their 14-year-old daughter didn’t return two hours after leaving for the local temple on Monday evening, Vakola residents Mahesh and Suhasini Mane (names changed) got worried. Relatives and locals started a search operation. Half an hour later, a family member of the mentally challenged girl, found her along with 26-year-old Dilip Patil — who lived in the neighbourhood — at an empty house.

Lucky escape: As the victim cannot speak or hear, the accused u00a0allegedly managed to forcibly take her to a vacant house in the neighbourhood. Representation pic