India, April 19 -- In a breakthrough in the Amravati sexual exploitation case, a 15-year-old survivor from Nagpur has come forward, the first young woman to take this step, to record her statement before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), on Saturday.

Police had registered a suo-motu case nearly a week ago when it emerged that a 19-year-old from Paratwada town in Amravati district had befriended and lured young women, most of them minors, and sexually abused them. Mohammad Ayan, the main accused in the case, also recorded these acts on video and circulated them online. Ayan as well as the survivors identified so far are Muslim, thereby ruling out a communal angle to the case, police say.

Police had identified eight survivors but, giv...