TUMKUR: The alleged gang rape and murder of an 21-year-old engineering student sent shock waves across the district on Thursday.
The victim, a resident of Malavalli town and a student of HMS Institute of Technology -- run by former Congress MLA and district president S Shafi Ahmed -- died after she was allegedly gang-raped by fellow students on Thursday. Following a complaint, the police have arrested key accused Sukhdeep Singh, a student of Mechanical Engineering stream in the same college.
Sukhdeep is from an affluent family in Allahabad. According to police sources, Sukhdeep and his friends took the victim from a place near her hostel on Shettyhalli road to a house at Saraswathipuram at around 10 pm on Thursday. The victim was allegedly gang-raped in a car, parked in the garage of the house. During the ordeal, the victim lost consciousness.
The accused, panicked and took her to Narasimhaiah Hospital on Kunigal Road, where she was declared brought dead. The accused then took the body to the district general hospital and informed the police.
Sources said that Sukhdeep Singh was involved in numerous clashes between students in the college.
‘Police shielding the accused’ However, the Rural police, who are investing the case, say that they are yet to ascertain the cause of the death.
The police said that they were awaiting the post-mortem report.
Meanwhile, police sources seem to think that the victim might not have been raped, and instead died of suffocation inside the car, which was parked inside a garage. District surgeon, Dr Pratap Surya also claimed that there were no signs of rape on the victim’s body.
“As the victim was inside an air conditioned car for more than six hours, the carbon monoxide might have suffocated her,” said rural Police Sub- Inspector Siddaraju and Dr Prathap Surya.
On suspicions of foul-play in the investigation of the incident, Muslim youth organisations and Jayakarnataka organisation have accused the police of trying to hush up the incident to protect the culprits.
Victim’s father Meer Ahmed Rab and relatives visited the district hospital and urged the Superintendent of Police, P Harsha to conduct a thorough probe into the incident. Speaking to Express, HMSIT director Rafeek Ahmed said that the victim was a studious girl.