Balangir: Kantabanjhi police on Tuesday charged a youth with raping a minor tribal girl for about a month giving her the false promise of marriage. The accused, Manjit Saraf of Kukudahad village, is absconding.

Saraf had allegedly developed a relationship with the girl when he had gone to his uncle's house at Singhamunda village in Balangir police station area last month. On June 7, he took the girl on a bike to Kantabanjhi and they continued to stay at a rented house there as husband and wife.

On July 5, the youth left home and never came back. On Monday, the girl and her family members lodged a complaint with Kantabanjhi police station. Talking to newspersons, the girl alleged that the youth had threatened to kill her. "When I told him that I did not want to go to Kantabanjhi with him, he told me that he would kill both me and whoever else I wanted to marry. But, he vanished after living with me for about a month as husband and wife," the girl said.

The police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the ST/SC Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Sub-divisional police officer of Kantabanjhi Prafulla Kumar Mishra said: "We are raiding various places to nab him. He would be brought to book soon."