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2 minors among 7 held for techie’s gang rape in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa
The 26-year-old survivor, who works for a Bengaluru-based IT company, was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped near the old aerodrome in Chaibasa on Thursday evening when she was out with a friend on a two-wheeler.
Five people were arrested and two minors were apprehended on Sunday on charges of gang-raping a 26-year-old engineer in Chaibasa town of West Singhbhum district on Thursday, police said, adding that two other accused are still at large.
The 26-year-old survivor, who works for a Bengaluru-based IT company, was allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped near the old aerodrome in Chaibasa on Thursday evening when she was out with a friend on a two-wheeler. According to the police complaint, a group of 9-10 people accosted them, assaulted her friend and then gang-raped the woman at a secluded spot in the area.
“The SIT formed to crack the case have arrested five persons, besides apprehending two minors for commuting the crime. The accused have confessed to their crime. As per the investigation, nine persons were involved in the crime. Two other accused have also been identified. Raids are on to arrest them,” said West Singhbhum superintendent of police, Ashutosh Shekhar.
The SP said all accused are residents of villages surrounding the Old Chaibasa aerodrome.
The five who were arrested were identified as: Shivshankar Karji (22), Suren Devgan (20), Purni Devgan (19), Prakash Devgam (21) and Sima Sinku (19) — all residents of Salihatu under Mufassil police station limits.
According to a police officer familiar with the probe,the survivor’s wallet was recovered from Karji’s residence. “Some bits of the dress worn by the accused at the time of crime have also been recovered. The survivor had described them in her complaint,” said the officer.
The arrests were carried out after the SIT profiled youngsters in the surrounding villages based on inputs from local residents, the officer added.
“Based on the leads, some of the suspected boys were picked up by police. During interrogation, some of them confessed. On basis of leads provided by Shivshankar, the survivor’s wallet was also recovered,” said the officer.
The incident had also sparked a political row on Saturday in the state with former chief minister Raghubar Das calling for chief minister Hemant Soren’s resignation.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had said in response that those responsible for the Chaibasa incident will not be spared and police are working to ensure stringent punishment against them.
