A gang of six men allegedly kidnapped a 23-year-old Mumbai-based woman, raped her and pushed her off the first floor of a building when she tried to escape at Nagondanahalli near Whitefield on Saturday.
Preliminary investigation revealed that she is a sex worker and had come to the city only a few days ago.
Police said the victim was living alone at Kurabarahalli near Basaveshwara Nagar. On Saturday evening, she was reportedly asked by a client to come near Nagondanahalli. After reaching there, the client came to pick her up in a Maruti Omni van. When she objected to her client bringing five others along with him, they forced her into the van and took her to an isolated area in the vicinity and raped her.
The woman later managed to escape from the scene, went to the first floor of a nearby residential building and screamed for help. The gang, however, chased her and pushed her down. As she sustained severe injuries due to the fall, the gang fled the scene.
People in the building, who came out of their houses, noticed her lying on the ground and alerted the police. She was immediately rushed to a private hospital and later shifted to Victoria Hospital where she is being treated. Doctors confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.
As the victim is a sex worker, she feared that she would get into trouble and initially refused to file a complaint.
She even cooked up a story that she was working at a beauty parlour in Shantinagar and had reached Bellandur after taking a BMTC bus.
She claimed that the gang kidnapped her from Bellandur when she was standing at a bus shelter as it was raining, dragged her to an isolated place and raped her.
The Whitefield police alerted the HSR Layout police who told her that she won’t face any trouble and managed to convince her to file a complaint.
During questioning, the victim also claimed that she was a resident of Malleswaram and Rajajinagar.
But later she revealed that she was a resident of Kurabarahalli. She said she hails from West Bengal and had been living in Mumbai for some time. Police sources said the kingpin of the sex racket, one Manoj, had brought her to the city and was helping her contact clients.
Based on the victim’s statement, police have gathered some details about the client and the other accused. Police also tracked the identity of two of the accused who work in a private firm. One of the accused was frequently in touch with her, the sources said.
HSR Layout police have registered a case of kidnap, gang-rape, attempt to murder and assault against the accused, and a special team has been formed to nab them.