Hyderabad:

A teenager, the fourth accused in the Hyderabad gangrape case, has been taken into custody, the police said today.

The Hyderabad Police said the fifth accused is still on the run, and a search is on to trace him.

This comes a day after two teenagers were taken into custody for allegedly raping the girl. One of them is the son of a local leader of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi party (TRS).

Another accused, identified as Saduddin Malik, was arrested on Friday.

The 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by five young men when she was returning home after a party in the Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad on May 28.

The boys had offered to drop her home. Instead, they went to a pastry and coffee shop, where they changed into an Innova. After travelling for a while, she was allegedly assaulted inside the parked vehicle in the city. They took turns raping her while the others stood guard outside, the police said.

The police initially registered a case of “outraging modesty” based on the girl’s father’s complaint. It was changed to a rape case later.

The case has taken a political colour, with the BJP and Congress demanding that the state government hand over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation to ensure an impartial probe.

The opposition leaders have alleged delay in police action, citing the alleged involvement of the family members of influential politicians in the case.

In an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, state BJP president and MP, Bandi Sanjay Kumar said it is the minimum responsibility of the state government to conduct a CBI inquiry when allegations surfaced about the involvement of family members of those belonging to AIMIM, a friendly party of ruling TRS.

BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao has released a video clip and photographs, alleging the presence of an AIMIM MLA’s son in a car with the survivor, where the leader says the minor was sexually assaulted.

The video clip and photographs shared with NDTV show a young man, said to be the AIMIM MLA’s son, involved in an intimate act with the minor girl in the presence of other accused.

Alleging cover-up, the BJP leader sought to know why the police have not named the MLA’s son as one of the accused.

Mr Rao released the video clip and the photographs a day after the police dismissed the claim as baseless.

“We have identified five culprits as per CCTV footage and the statement of the survivor, and the MLA’s son is not one of them, “Joel Davis, Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Zone, said on Friday.