KORAPUT: A 19-year-old college student and part-time model was allegedly gang-raped at knifepoint by three masked men in a pine forest between Jeypore and Koraput on August 5. Police on Monday arrested one of the accused and produced him in court.
The survivor and her male friend had stopped at the forest in the afternoon to click pictures when the three accused arrived on a motorcycle. Two of them were allegedly carrying knives.
According to the complaint, the accused allegedly forced the duo to pay whatever cash they had on them. The survivor and her friend were also terrorised to get more cash online which was transferred to the perpetrators through QR code.
The accused allegedly took a total of `8,300 from the duo through cash and online transfers.
The survivor alleged that one of the accused took her around a kilometre away from her friend at knifepoint, where all three allegedly took turns to sexually assault her for around two hours.
She further alleged that the accused removed their masks while sexually assaulting her. They then allegedly took the survivor back to the spot where her friend was waiting and fled after warning them not to come down from the forest until 4 pm.
The survivor, a college student, reported the matter to Sadar police and an FIR was lodged at about 11 pm on August 5.
Police registered a case for gang-rape and robbery under sections 70(1) and 309(6) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR initially recorded the accused as unidentified but the survivor stated she would be able to identify the perpetrators.
Koraput SP Rohit Verma told TNIE that one of the three accused was arrested and the other two have also been identified.
Police did not disclose the identity of the arrested accused.