CHENNAI: Three men, who allegedly gang-raped a 20-year-old nurse from Chengalpattu, were arrested by the police on Tuesday. The victim had completed her nursing diploma from a private institution and finished her six-month training at a private hospital in Chennai, said the police. She and her friends, who learned about a vacancy in a private hospital in Vellore, planned to go there for an interview scheduled on Sunday.
The victim was friends with one of the accused, N Saravanan (29), who was working as a helper in a private company in Oragadam. Saravanan is married and lives with his wife and two children, the police said. “The victim had informed Saravanan about her plan to attend the job interview. The three girls, including the victim, were waiting for a bus to Vellore around 11 pm on Saturday at a bus stand near their village when Saravanan reached the spot and invited the victim for dinner. She got into his car and they drove away,” said a senior police officer.
The victim had informed her friends that she will take the next bus to Vellore and asked them to go ahead. Meanwhile, Saravanan called his friends—T Sarathy (21), a BCom final year graduate, and S Surya Prakash (22), a practising advocate at a magistrate court in Chengalpattu.
The trio took the victim 10 kilometres away from the bus stand into an isolated ground filled with bushes. “On the way, the accused forcibly made the victim drink liquor and hours later, the trio gang-raped her,” the police added.
The woman was left in the bushes and the accused sped away in the car. The victim, who woke up on the roadside on Sunday morning, reached home and attempted to take her life, the police said. When her parents got to know about the incident, a case was registered at the Chengalpattu all-women police station on Sunday.
Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under IPC section 363 (kidnapping), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 376 (rape), 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) and section four of the Women Harassment Act. The police arrested Saravanan, Sarathy and Surya Prakash and remanded them in judicial custody.