RANCHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Sunday arrested seven suspects, including two minors, for allegedly raping a 26-year-old software engineer at Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district.
The engineer was allegedly gangraped by around 10 men near the old aerodrome on Thursday evening when she was out with a male friend on a two-wheeler.
The accused also thrashed the woman’s friend and allegedly raped her after taking her to a secluded place.
They also took away her belongings, including phone, said the police.The woman somehow managed to reach home, and told her family about the incident.
According to police, the woman works for a Bangalore-based IT company and was here as she was working from home. After registering an FIR at Muffassil police station, SP Ashutosh Shekhar formed an SIT, which rounded up some of the suspects from the neighbouring villages and interrogated them.
“People, who had been coming to the aerodrome regularly were identified and interrogated, during which, it was found that activities of some of the people were found suspicious after the incident. Coming into action immediately, the SIT conducted raids on Saturday and detained seven people, including two
minors, who later admitted to their crime,” said Chaibasa SP.
On the basis of the statement by one of the accused, Shivshankar Karji, the victim’s purse, her aadhaar card, driving license, ATM card, Rs 4,500 cash among other items, were recovered from his house, he added. A hunt is still on to arrest other accused involved in the case, he said. Those who have been arrested include Suren Deogam alias Bagun (20), Purmi Deogam Alias Shetti (19), Prakash Deogam alias Dembro (21), Soma Sinku aliasPetra (19) and Shivshankar Karji alias ‘Baaz’ (22) along with two other minors.