THE police of the southern Indian state of Karnataka has reportedly arrested five people, including a juvenile, from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu for allegedly gangraping a 22-year-old student in the city of Mysuru (formerly Mysore) on Tuesday (24) this week. One of the accused was absconding.
Director general of police Praveen Sood said the accused were from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu and came to Mysuru often for work. They include a driver, carpenter, painter and others.
On August 24, the student, who is from outside Karnataka, was allegedly gangraped by the accused around 8 pm local time near Chamundi hills on the city’s outskirts. They allegedly beat up the male friend of the woman who was with her.
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Sood said the case was cracked solely on the basis of technical and scientific evidence got from the spot of the incident.
“We are yet to collect a statement from the victim, as she is yet to come out of the trauma. Also, we got some details from her male friend, but that was incomplete and did not help much in the investigation,” he said.
A senior police officer said the woman left Mysuru, located 89 miles from state capital Bengaluru, on Friday (27) despite the doctors suggesting rest. According to the officer, her parents decided to take her back to her home state irrespective of the doctors’ suggestion. The woman was reportedly in not a good state to travel but yet her parents took her back.
The DGP said the juvenile detained is 17, subject to verification. He, however, said that in cases of serious nature, those aged above 16 will also be tried in a regular court, quoting the change in definition of juvenile accused after the Nirbhaya gangrape case of 2012.
The top police officer said the accused also tried to rob the duo of Rs 3 lakh.
“We will be filing the chargesheet at the earliest. We are also hoping to get the victim’s statement at the earliest. He added that staff of the Forensic Science Laboratory have been doing their best to collect additional details,” Sood said, adding that investigation was underway to know whether the attack was pre-planned.
A case has been registered against the accused.
Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra, who visited the crime spot in Mysuru on Friday, refused to comment on reports that the accused have taken into custody in connection with the incident.
He only said the police have succeeded. Jnanendra, who courted a controversy by making remarks like the duo should not travelled to the deserted place where they were targeted or that the opposition was trying to “rape” him over the issue, briefed chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on the development and said he would reveal details about the progress on the case soon.
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