The Mysuru city police, working on the heinous gang-rape and assault case of an MBA student and her friend, have successfully nabbed 5 out of the 6 accused. Karnataka DGP Praveen Sood informed on Saturday that 5 accused, out of which one is a juvenile, have been arrested based on preliminary interrogations into the case. The city police are verifying the age of the suspected juvenile. One other accused person in the case is still absconding.
A 22-year-old MBA student from Maharashtra, studying at a Mysuru university, and her friend were attacked at Chamundi Hills (a popular tourist spot on the outskirts of the city) late on Tuesday, August 24th evening. Both victims are currently undergoing treatment and are said to be out of danger.
Earlier the police were suspecting four students of a reputed engineering college to be behind the crime. The police had received tower locations of these students at the crime spot. When the police tried to reach the suspects, they were not found. After an inspection at their college, the police found out that the four students had not attended an examination scheduled on Wednesday, a day after the incident. This made the police’s suspicion even stronger that the four students committed the crime and disappeared after it came to light.
Accused surrounded the Mysuru couple, passed lewd remarks and demanded money
However, technical and scientific evidence collected by the Mysuru police led them to the actual six accused. The DGP has confirmed that all five arrested accused are labourers from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur district who use to frequently visit Mysuru.
On the day of the crime, the accused were drinking and partying at the slopes of the Chamundi Hills on the outskirts of Mysuru, when they spotted the victims.
The men, who were in an inebriated state, surrounded the couple and demanded money. They passed lewd remarks against the girl and start videotaping her on their mobile phones. When her friend objected, the accused started getting violent.
The accused filmed the act and used it to blaclmaik the victims, Mysuru police confirmed
They roughed up the youth and started sexually assaulting the MBA student. When the girl’s friend aggressively tried to stop the accused, they started beating him up with sticks. One of the accused reportedly took a bolster and hit him on his forehead, rendering him unconscious.
The accused, meanwhile, continued to film as they took turns to rape the student.
A police officer said the accused had demanded Rs 3 lakh from the student before assaulting her. The accused kept threatening the victim that if she or her friend did not pay up or approach the police, they would leak the video on social media.
According to reports, almost after 6 hours, when the student’s friend gained consciousness, he found himself surrounded by four youths. “I asked where my friend was. Two of them dragged her out of the bush and laid her beside me. She was seeming unconscious and severely injured”, said the rape victim’s friend, adding that the perpetrators made him call his father and ask him to arrange for the money. The father, who hurried to the crime spot after receiving the call, rushed the two victims to the hospital.
The friend confirmed to the police that the assaulters had made a video of the act and had threatened them of making the video public.
On reaching the hospital, the victims, reportedly, did not tell the doctors about the rape and assault. They said they had fallen off their bike and sustained injuries. However, upon examination, the doctors realise that the girl was sexually assaulted.
The doctors, then at around 7 am on August 25, informed the Mysuru city police. Within some time, the Alanahalli police reached the hospital.
Victim confirms accused not talking in local language, police finds liquor bottles of different state
The rape victim’s friend, who was severely beaten up by the accused, filed a police complaint, based on which the first information reported (FIR) was registered and police started probing the case.
The police immediately formed teams and visited the crime spot by 9 am on August 25. Police started looking at criminal elements in neighbouring states as well because the girl victim’s friend told the police that the accused were not conversing in the local language. Besides, the police also obtained liquor bottles belonging to a different state at the crime spot.
After relentless pursue, the Mysuru city police finally cracked the case on August 28 and apprehended five out of the six accused. The police are on the lookout for the sixth accused and are hopeful to find him soon.
Meanwhile, both the victims continue to receive medical treatment in the hospital. Both of them are said to be out of danger. The girl, however, is still under shock.
Police have been unable to record the young woman’s statement so far, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has said, because she is still in shock.
Days after this gruesome incident, the University of Mysore has barred people from entering Kukkarahalli Lake premises after 6 pm as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Chennapatna, former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday suggested the rapists should be treated in the same way that perpetrators of a similar crime were shot dead by police in Telangana about two years ago.
“I appreciate the Hyderabad Police in dealing with a rape case. What did they do finally? Unless stringent action is taken, things will not improve”, Kumaraswamy said.
The JDS leader was referring to how four alleged rapists were gunned down by Hyderabad police after they burned alive a veterinarian and her vehicle after committing the heinous crime in Shamshabad, Hyderabad in 2019. All four suspects were brought to the crime scene to recreate it. Telangana Police had shot them after they attempted to flee the spot.
