Lahunipada: Five persons were arrested Thursday for allegedly gang-raping a 20-year-old girl at Kalakatu forest under K Balanga police limits in Sundargarh district.
The arrested were identified as Dhanasena Singh (24), Shankar Singh (21), Sahadeb Singh (23), Rabindra Singh (22) and Umesh Singh (24) of Renjada village in the district.
The matter came to the fore after the victim lodged a complaint with K Balanga police Wednesday alleging that she was forcefully taken into a forest and was gang-raped.
According to the complaint, the victim along with her cousin brother had gone to a relative’s house in Renjada. When they were returning home on a motorcycle Monday night, they were waylaid by three bike-borne youths near Kalakatu jungle. The accused persons then beat up her brother severely following which he ran away. While two of them took her into the woods and raped her, the other ferried two more youths to the spot on the bike. Later, all five accused persons took turns to rape her.
Even as her cousin brother witnessed the heinous act by hiding behind a tree, he could not gather enough courage to oppose the rape bid.
After the accused youths deserted the victim and fled the spot, the survivor’s brother rescued her. On reaching home, the victim narrated her ordeal before her family members following which a complaint was lodged against the accused persons.
Acting on the complaint, police started an investigation and arrested the accused persons Thursday. The victim was also sent for medical examination.
The accused persons have been forwarded to Bonai court, sources in the police said.
PNN