Three bar girls abducted, gang-raped near Bangalore

Three bar girls in their twenties were allegedly gang-raped late Thursday at Bidadi near here by an unidentified group of eight men, a police official said Friday.

"We have registered a case under sections 363, 376 and 395 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the unidentified men after the three victims lodged a complaint with us earlier in the day about the alleged gang-rape," Ramanagaram Superintendent of Police Anupam Agarwal told IANS here.

The victims alleged that the gang barged into their rented house in Bidadi, 30 km from Bangalore, forcibly took them in a car to an unknown location and sexually assaulted them.

"The victims mentioned in the complaint that the incident occurred around Thursday midnight after they returned home from duty at Casino Bar and Restaurant in a Bangalore suburb. It is learnt that the accused followed them from the bar in a Maruti van and picked them up sparing the other five women in the house," Agarwal said.

Police formed a five-member team to investigate the case and launched a manhunt to nab the culprits.

"The victims have been referred to a government hospital for medical examination. We hope to crack the case in a day or two as we have some clues on the accused from their description given in the complaint by the victims," Agarwal said.

This is the second such incident within a week after a law student complained that she was allegedly raped by an eight-member gang in the Bangalore University campus on the city's outskirts late Saturday (October 13).