BHOPAL: An alleged rape and blackmailing racket has been busted in Bhopal. Two youths of a particular community hailing from West Bengal have been arrested in connection with the issue.
The two arrested accused have been identified as Farhan and Saad, while others are under investigation.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed by Bhopal Police Commissioner Harinarayanchari Mishra to further probe the case, following three FIRs recently filed by victims.
The three FIRs have been registered under BNS sections pertaining to rape and blackmailing, provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012 and also provisions of the state's anti-religious conversion law, the MP Freedom of Religion Act 2021.
"It’s a very sensitive matter. Three FIRs have been lodged so far and two key accused have been arrested. POCSO Act provisions have been added in the FIRs, as the complainant girls were aged below 18 when the alleged crime happened. The provisions of MP Freedom of Religion Act top have been added as the statements of the alleged rape survivor girls necessitated their inclusion in the FIRs. The FIRs at multiple police stations of Bhopal are now being probed under the supervision of a Special Investigation Team (SIT)," Bhopal police commissioner Harinarayanchari Mishra told TNIE on Friday.
All the victims and most of the accused are students of a prominent private college in Bhopal.
The entire matter came to the fore recently when one of the girls, aged 19, years reported to Bag Sewania police station about her college mate Farhan having first lured her into love trap using a different identity, followed by her rape two years back.
He recorded the intimate videos and blackmailed her to introduce her other friends (belonging to the girl's community) to his friends, who subsequently raped those girls.
It was the bunch of intimate videos of the other girls (teenage friends of the first complainant girl) found in Farhan's mobile phone, which led the police to the other girls, two of whom subsequently reported the crime. Another girl is currently being counselled, as she is excessively petrified and not ready to report the crime, fearing social stigma.
According to sources privy to the ongoing probe, the videos in the seized cell-phone suggest a strong possibility of some other girls from the same community having been targeted by the rape-blackmailing racket of youths from the other community, mostly belonging to West Bengal.
Some of the videos also reportedly show the accused youths using abusive language and references, which are hurtful to the religious sentiments of the victim girls.