Minor girl sexually abused in Bhubaneswar; 5 including victim's female friend held

Bhubaneswar, Oct 31 (IANS) A minor girl has been allegedly sexually abused by four youths in Nayapalli area of Bhubaneswar, the police said on Thursday, adding five persons including the victim's female friend -- also a minor -- have been apprehended in this connection.

Following the receipt of the complaint, the Commissionerate Police swung into action and arrested three persons including a minor girl -- a friend of the victim -- in connection with the gang-rape. Two other accused persons have also been detained at the Nayapalli police station in this regard.

The accused individuals also shot a video of the incident and extorted money from the victim and her mother by threatening to make the objectionable videos viral on the Internet.

The incident happened on October 16 and the police received a complaint regarding the episode on Wednesday.

Speaking to mediapersons, DCP Bhubaneswar Pinak Mishra on Thursday said that a report was received at the Nayapalli police station from a minor girl on Wednesday.

She (the victim) alleged that one of her friends, a minor herself, introduced her to four youths who raped the victim by offering her a spiked drink. The victim came to know about the incident the next morning.

"As it is a very sensitive issue related to the sexual abuse of a minor, an FIR was registered immediately, and an investigation launched by a police team. We ascertained from preliminary investigation that the victim was subjected to sexual assault. The police carried out raids at multiple places and rounded up the accused persons named in the FIR copy.

"We managed to arrest the accused minor friend of the victim and two of the accused persons within 12 hours of the registration of the FIR. Later, two other absconding persons were nabbed on Thursday.

The police are questioning the duo by detaining them at the police station," said DCP Mishra on Thursday.

Police sources revealed that the accused minor girl befriended the victim on the pretext of helping her to get a job. She later introduced the victim to one Raja Pattnaik,19, a few days ago.

“Raja Pattnaik spent four to five days with the complainant at different parks in Bhubaneswar and developed intimacy. On October 16, Raja Pattnaik, took the complainant to Buddha Park area, administered intoxicated cold drinks and took her to an OYO Hotel. At the said hotel, Raja and three others, Deepak Behera, Papu Diwedi and Prakash Behera committed penetrative sexual assault upon the complainant in the said hotel room," a police source said.

The complainant later also came to know that they had captured the video footage of the time of the sexual assault. The accused Raja and a minor friend of the victim have allegedly extracted extortion money of Rs 50,000 from the victim’s mother and Rs 12,000 from the victim herself by threatening them to viral the video.

--IANS

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