Family alleges gang rape but girl says it's 'office rivalry'

 A teenage girl working at Paragon factory in Peenya was abducted by three unidentified men before she managed to escape their clutches late Monday night. Her family, however, claimed she was gang raped but she herself denied the assertion.

The 18-year-old said the men abducted her when she was returning home from work. They wanted to scare her into submission as she had complained to the company’s human resource department against some of her co-workers, she told the police.

The men had dragged her into an autorickshaw. As the vehicle sped away, two men in the back seat repeatedly slapped her before tying her hands and placing a gag over her mouth. Then they asked her why she complained to the HR department.
The suspects also took the mobile phone number of her boyfriend, Sajjad Khan.

According to the victim, she managed to escape her captors’ clutches when the autorickshaw stopped near a traffic junction. As she was running home, however, she felt giddy and fainted.

Security guards deployed at a toll gate near Arisinakunte found her lying unconscious in the subway and took her to Sapthagiri Hospital. Her parents, who were apprehensive about her disappearance, rushed to the hospital on Tuesday morning after being informed by her co-worker.

In a complaint to the Nelamangala town police, the girl’s family alleged she was gang raped.

The family panicked when she did not return home by night, although usually she would come back by 5 pm.

The mother then called up her daughter’s co-worker who said she had already left for the day. The co-worker then informed the family late at night that the victim was in the hospital.

Her mother, however, suspected the gang forcibly took away her daughter and raped her before dumping her in the subway. Police registered a case of rape against unidentified people and questioned Khan on Wednesday.

B Ramesh, SP, Bangalore Rural, said the girl was not in a position to give a statement on Tuesday. She, however, gave a statement on Wednesday and denied she was gang raped.

The girl also denied the three men were her colleagues. She said she could not recognise them either and that they spoke in Hindi, police sources quoted her as saying.

Police have detained about 17 workers employed at factories in the area, all hailing from north India, and are questioning them.

Meanwhile, in an interim report to the police, doctors said there was no evidence of sexual assault on the girl or of related injuries, Ramesh added.