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Five arrested for raping 16-year-old in Kudagu district
Five arrested for raping 16-year-old in Kodagu district. Two girls asked for lift, one was raped. Accused arrested, car seized, case filed under various sections.
Five people were arrested for allegedly raping a 16-year-old in Kodagu district, a police officer said.
The officer said the incident took place on Tuesday when two girls, who had come to Gonicoppa for a weekly market, were waiting for a bus to return to their home in Kutta and a Maruti 800 car approached them. The girls, recognising the men in the car, asked them for a lift to Nagarhole. The men agreed to help them.
The men later stopped the car near a coffee estate in Nathangala. Among them, two of the accused allegedly raped one of the girls. However, the other girl managed to escape when other accused attempted to rape her, the officer said.
The victims reported the incident to their parents, who filed a complaint on Wednesday. Upon receiving the complaint, the police arrested the five accused and also seized the car used in the crime.
Kutta police inspector B Mahadeva said: “Based on the complaint, we filed a case against the five accused and managed to arrest them quickly. The incident took place at around 5 pm while the girls were travelling in the car with the five men. The accused stopped the car in mid way and raped one of the minor girls and attempted to rape the other.”
“After the incident, all the accused fled the scene and were hiding in Tholpatti, Kerala, which is near the Kodagu-Kerala border,” he said.
“We arrested all five accused from their hideouts and booked them under various sections, 137(2) (Kidnapping), 140(4) (Keeping in Confinement), 70(2) (Gang Rape), 76 (Voyeurism) of BNS Act, and Sections 4 and 6 of the Pocso Act. The investigation is ongoing,” he further said.
The arrested people have been identified as Akshay Kuttan (27) and Navindra (24) from Nathangala in Kodagu, along with Rahul (21), Manu (25), and Sandeep (27) from Kerala’s Tolpatti. They face charges of raping minors. The victims and the accused were sent for medical examination and the accused were produced before the Ponnampet JMFC court, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days, he added.
