Uday, a resident of Kajheri, who was booked on charges of abducting and raping a minor, also resident of Kajheri, was acquitted by the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ) S K Aggarwal on Wednesday after the “victim” and her mother, the complainant, changed an earlier statement.

Sudha, the mother, had reported to the Chandigarh Police on September 3 last year that her daughter had been abducted and then raped by Uday. She had further alleged that on the aforesaid day, when she saw Uday taking away her daughter, she (Sudha) had run after them but in vain. It was also alleged that her daughter had given her a phone call from Bangalore after a few days and told her Uday had raped her. Her daughter told her that since Uday had run short of money, he would be returning to Chandigarh along with her to collect money on September 19.

The matter was reported to the police, which arrested Uday and the girl from the bus stand.

However, Sudha now maintains that though she complained to the police regarding her daughter going missing, she never accused Uday of anything. Moreover, she submitted before the judge that she had never chased the two as she had been operated upon and was lying in hospital on the said day. The victim, on her part, submitted she couldn’t identify the accused.