Palghar: A 13-year-old tribal girl from Maharashtra’s Palghar district was allegedly forcibly married off and raped, police said on Friday.

Based on a complaint lodged by the minor, the police have registered a case against five persons, including the groom and his family from Ahilyanagar, an official said.

According to the police, the girl’s grandfather allegedly got her married to a man from Ahilyanagar in September, and she was repeatedly sexually assaulted. The groom’s parents also mentally harassed her.

“We have registered a case against five individuals, including a family member, for the forced marriage, trafficking, and repeated sexual assault of a minor girl. The case involves multiple jurisdictions, and we are coordinating the investigation to ensure immediate action is taken against all the accused involved in this serious crime,” the official said.

The offence has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said.

Mumbai: A yoga instructor from Santacruz West was cheated by two men posing as policemen, collecting money to distribute clothes and food to the poor. The complainant, Anand Joshi, 67, lodged a complaint at Santacruz police station on Wednesday, saying that he was convinced with the narrative that his neighbour donated Rs10,000 and was shown a fake entry in a register.

When Joshi asked about payment, they asked him to scan a QR code, and he transferred Rs2,000. Later, his neighbour informed him that the men were impostors. It was found that their uniforms were fake and they had arrived on a motorcycle.

In a separate case on Thursday, a hotel and lodge owner, Ratikrushna Patnaik, 55, from Goregaon West, complained to Bangur Nagar police on Thursday of being cheated by a man posing as a crime branch officer named ‘Prakash’ seeking a room, purportedly for VIP bandobast duty. When the lodge staff later asked him for his ID or payment, he refused, allegedly threatened them, and left without paying.

In both cases, offences have been registered under Section 204 (personating a public servant) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Mumbai: A BMC clerk was recently duped of Rs5.46 lakh in an online shopping scam. The complainant, Bhupali M, 32, a resident of Santacruz, placed a few orders using the Meesho app on September 30. Days later, she received calls from three unknown numbers.

The callers, claiming to be Meesho employees, informed that the parcels were ready for delivery, but the payment had not been received yet. The scammers then sent her a QR code and asked to enter a specific code, said Bhupali, adding Rs5.46 lakh got debited from her account in an unauthorised manner on October 8. After verifying the complaint, the police lodged the FIR a week later.