BENGALURU: Magadi police arrested three youth on Wednesday evening on charges of gang-raping a 19-year-old college student, blackmailing and threatening her.
The main accused, Vikas (23), who was in a relationship with the girl, had taken her to a friend’s house in Magadi, and sexually assaulted her a few months ago. He had recorded the act on his mobile phone. Vikas shared the video with the survivor and threatened to make it public, and kept taking her to the same place and raping her. He is said to have shown the video to two friends, who urged him to bring the girl to the house. In October, he took her there again, and they reportedly gang-raped her.
The survivor filed the complaint on Wednesday, which led to their arrest. She approached the police, unable to bear the blackmail by the accused to “cooperate” with them.
Of the three accused, Vikas and Prashanth (19) are students, while Chethan (28) is an electrician and a married man. All are residents of Magadi. Vikas would take the girl to Chethan’s house and sexually assault her. The girl had met Vikas around seven months ago, and he had proposed to her.
The survivor had not told anyone about her ordeal, as Vikas had threatened to make the video public. When he kept forcing her to cooperate with him and his friends again, she distanced herself from him and blocked his number.
Vikas started stalking her when she was on her way to college, and reportedly warned he would send the video to her family members and friends if she didn’t oblige them. He threatened to harm and even kill her.
Unable to bear the harassment, she finally opened up to her family and discussed the issue. The family approached the office of Bengaluru South Superintendent of Police on Wednesday. The case was referred to the jurisdictional Magadi police who arrested the accused within a few hours.
The survivor and the three accused were subjected to medical tests. Police seized the mobile phones of the three accused and sent them to FSL for analysis, to check whether the video could have been shared. Police are checking if there were any monetary transactions between Vikas and the girl.
A case of gang rape and criminal intimidation to cause death or grievous hurt was registered against the accused.