BELAGAVI: An incident of a woman gangraped by six members of the notorious “Benachinmardi Khilari” gang and “SP Sarkar” gang at Aditya Nagar in Gokak town of Belagavi district came to light on September 18 though it occured on September 5.
The district police have arrested five of the six accused. The arrested have been identified as Ramesh Uddappa Khilari, Durgappa Somling Vaddar, Yallappa Siddappa Gisningavvagol, Krishna Prakash Pujeri and Ramsidda Gurusiddappa Tapsi, all residents of Gokak taluk.
A search is on for Basavaraj Vasant Khilari who is absconding. Police said the victim was shopping in Gokak town along with a man on September 5 when Basavaraj Khilari, who is known to her, invited them to his house for tea.
Accordingly, the victim and the man went to his house. After some time, Basavaraj Khilari locked them in a room and telephoned the other accused to come to his house. After the five accused reached Basavaraj Khilari’s house, they assaulted the victim and the man, clicked their photos and shot their videos to blackmail them.
They took Rs 2,000 from the victim’s bag, her earrings and an ATM card from the man and demanded Rs 2 lakh from them. Later, the accused gangraped the victim after gagging her.
Accused held in dacoity case spilled beans
The accused threatened to kill her and the man if they informed the police about the incident and let them go. “This incident came to light when four of the accused were arrested in a dacoity case on September 18. Our policemen seized six motorcycles, nine mobile phones, one goods vehicle, and four swords. During interrogation, the accused revealed their involvement in many cases, including the gangrape,” SP Guled said.
Meanwhile, the victim lodged a complaint on September 29 at Gokak city police station. Acting on the complaint, the police booked cases against the six accused and arrested four of them for gangrape. A police team led by Inspector Gopal Rathod arrested the accused no. 1 Ramesh Uddappa Khilari on October 1. He was injured when the vehicle he was driving met with an accident while trying to escape. He is being treated at Gokak Civil Hospital. A search is on for accused no. 6 Basavaraj Khilari, Guled said.