KOLKATA: Three people were arrested Saturday for raping a 37-year-old Anglo-Indian woman, a mother of two and a former call centre employee, in a moving car after offering her a lift here earlier this month, police said.
The city police who had earlier arrested two people -- Rahman Khan and Sumit Bajaj -- from the Howrah station area, Saturday night arrested a third person named Nasir in connection with the case, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen.
Khan and Bajaj, both residents of Kolkata, were held while fleeing from the city, Sen said.
"We are interrogating them. We are also trying to apprehend some other persons who have been identified," Sen told mediapersons.
"As of now, we have also got some names. Investigation is on. After some time, we will be able to find out how many persons were involved in the crime," she said.
The victim alleged that she was raped past midnight Feb 5 in a moving car. She was also severely beaten. She filed a police complaint Feb 9 while her medical examination was conducted Feb 14.
Sen said police seized the vehicle, in which four people were present.
"Following the CCTV footage, we could identify the vehicle that belonged to Sumit Bajaj," she said.
Talking about her ordeal to a Bengali news channel, the victim said: "There were five people, including two whose names I do not know, inside the car where I was raped at gun-point by Sharafat Ali. The man kept hitting me mercilessly even after he had finished raping me."
She named another person in the car as Azhar Ali.
Police said Khan had introduced himself to the victim as Lovi Gidwani and offered her a lift in the car. The other two accused introduced themselves as Sharafat Ali and Azhar Ali.
"This is a reason she got confused," Sen said.
Police Thursday maintained there were "certain technical discrepancies" in the case and termed the victim's allegations of lax investigation as an attempt to malign police and the state government.
Police, however, changed their stand Friday.
"Her (victim's) version was more or less the same (what she had alleged in the complaint). Something must have occurred in the early hours of Feb 6 and police are thoroughly investigating all aspects," Sen said.
Thursday night, police took the victim to the places she mentioned in her complaint and tried to recreate the chain of events related to the alleged rape.