BENGALURU: A 17-year-old girl from Odisha, staying in Kadugodi, was kidnapped and locked up in a room at a lodge by a gang of four men who then raped her for ten days before she was rescued by the police. They had taken her to a lodge in Kadugodi near K R Puram. One of the rapists owned the lodge.
The police on November 4, managed to arrest the four accused and saved the girl who is a pre-university college (PUC) student in the city. The arrested have been identified as Raghavendra (26), of Udupi, his friends Sagar (22) and Manju Nayak (32), and the lodge owner Manoranjandas Pandit, (52), hailing from West Bengal. Raghavendra operates a canteen in the Kadugodi Railway Station and his friends worked with him as daily wagers.
Police officials said that the victim was on her way to meet a classmate on October 26 when she was approached by Raghavendra who had befriended her before. He took her to a lodge saying that he was taking her to the classmate. He also claimed that the classmate was at a party in the lodge. Later, he locked her in a room at Classic Inn Lodge near the railway station, where Raghavendra raped her and then called his friends Sagar and Manju who also sexually assaulted her.
Later, the lodge owner Manoranjandas found the girl locked in the room and questioned the three men. But, after talking to the trio, he too raped her. He threatened the three men to be quiet about his act or he would call the police and hand them over.
The girl’s father, who works as a security guard in a private firm, had filed a missing complaint on October 30. Based on a tip off, the police raided the lodge and arrested the four. All accused were handed over to judicial custody after medical tests.
The girl, in her complaint, stated that she was threatened by the gang at knife point. She also said that they stuffed clothes in her mouth to prevent her from raising an alarm. Police said that the crime seemed to have been planned well in advance as the gang had discussed the entire act beforehand.