NAGPUR: A 17-year-old girl exhibited great presence of mind by screaming loudly to thwart unwanted advances by an autorickshaw driver, and jumping out of the auto when it slowed down a little further, on Monday. The standard XI student managed to get out of the auto near Government Polytechnic , near Mangalwari Bridge , escaping any bigger harm.The minor had gone to a relative's place on November 24, and was returning home, in Bhupesh Nagar , on Monday afternoon. A cousin had dropped her off at Agrasen Chown at 1pm, where she took the auto to head home. The attack happened in a desolate lane in Sadar , some one-and-a-half kilometres away from her destination.The autorickshaw driver, still to be identified, stopped the vehicle and got into the back seat, where the survivor was seated. His advances left the survivor stunned for a moment, but she managed to resist the attempt, and started screaming in protest.The auto driver, in his mid-40s, was unnerved by the survivor's resistance, promptly returned to his seat, and started driving the three-wheeler towards Mangalwari market.As the vehicle reached the market, the survivor threatened to jump off the autorickshaw, raising her voice to attract attention, which made the driver slow down the vehicle. As the auto slowed to a crawl, the survivor jumped out of it. She whisked out her cell phone to contact the cousin who had come to drop her off at Agrasen Chowk The driver is learnt to have turned back to demand the fare, but fled from the spot when the survivor attracted the attention of passers-by, and also started narrating the incident to her cousin on the phone.The survivor's relative helped her reach home. The girl later approached Tehsil police station with her mother to lodge a complaint. The offence was lodged by Sadar cops, in whose jurisdiction the incident happened.In subsequent developments, Sadar police have nearly managed to zero down upon a suspect autorickshaw driver on Tuesday from Agrasen Chowk. The minor has confirmed the man to be the same person who assaulted her, but the cops are verifying certain inconsistencies before arresting him.The driver rounded up by Sadar cops owns an autorickshaw with different interiors than the one described by the complainant in the FIR. The driver has also managed to present two witnesses who support his claim that he was at Wadi between 1pm and 4pm on Monday. The cops are now trying to ascertain his whereabouts using his mobile phone location.

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