Was gang-raped, Hangal assault victim tells judge

Hangal (Haveri district): The case of assault on a Hindu man and a married Muslim woman by a group of youths in a hotel at Nalkar Cross in the taluk recently has taken a new turn, with the woman deposing before the judge that she was gang-raped by the attackers.

The police have registered a case of gang-rape based on the victim’s statement. 

The police on Thursday brought the woman to Hangal and produced her before the additional civil judge. Judge B Venkatappa recorded her statement through an in-camera procedure under Section 164 of the CrPC.  

“She was taken to Hangal police station and charges under Section 376-D of IPC were added,” superintendent of police Anshukumar said.

“The victim will be subjected to medical examination,” he added. 

The police have arrested Aftab Maqbool Ahmed Chandanakatti, 24, and Madarsab Mohammed Ishaq Mandakki, 23, of Akkialur in the case. On Thursday, they arrested an auto driver who had tipped off the assailants. Another suspect was injured in a bike accident and is in hospital, while the police are on the lookout for three others.    

They had registered a case against seven youths from Akkialur, based on a complaint by the room boy of the hotel where the man and woman, hailing from Sirsi, had stayed. 

“The suspects entered our room and assaulted us. They took me away to a forest on a bike, beat me again and raped me one by one. They did not spare me though I fell at their feet and pleaded for mercy. They took me in a car to the bus stop and sent me away by bus,” the woman is heard saying in a video that has gone viral on social media.