Nine arrested in 19-year-old woman's gangrape case in Varanasi

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: Nine people have so far been arrested in the case of gang-rape of a 19-year-old woman by 23 people over six days, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The accused had allegedly drugged the woman and took her to several hotels.

Additional Commissioner of Police, Cantonment, Vidush Saxena said nine persons have been arrested in the case and added, "Police teams are conducting searches to nab the other accused and they will be arrested soon." Saxena said the rape survivor is fine and police are in contact with her family members.

The survivor's family members refused to talk to the media. "Whatever information you want, you can talk to the police and take it from the police station," the rape survivor's mother said.

Officials said the woman had gone out with some youths on March 29. On April 4, her family filed a complaint when she did not return home.

When the police rescued her, she did not mention about the rape, police had earlier said.

However, the survivor's family on April 6 lodged a complaint alleging that she had been gangraped.

A case was registered against 12 named and 11 unnamed persons under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police said.

The named accused have been identified as Raj Vishwakarma, Sameer, Ayush, Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid, Zahir, Imran, Jaib, Aman and Raj Khan.

The woman told the police that between March 29 and April 4, the accused allegedly took her to many hotels and hookah bars and gangraped her, the officer said.

The woman's mother in her complaint said that her daughter had gone to her friend's house on March 29.

"On the way back home, she met a boy named Raj Vishwakarma, who took her to his cafe in Lanka, where Raj and his other friend did 'bad acts' with her.

"The next day my daughter met a boy named Sameer, who was on a bike with one of his friends. Sameer took her on the bike to a highway and did a 'bad act' with her on the bike itself and left the girl at Nadesar," she had alleged.

"The next day, on March 31, a boy named Ayush along with his five other friends named Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid and Zahir took her to Continental Cafe in Sigra and made her drink intoxicants and raped her one by one. On April 1, a boy named Sajid along with his friend took her to a hotel, where two-three other people were present.

"There, a man raped her and then threw her out. As she was leaving the place, she met a boy named Imran on the way, who also raped her in a hotel after making her drink intoxicants. Later, when the girl screamed, he left her outside the hotel," the mother had alleged in her complaint to the police.

On April 2, Raj Khan allegedly took her to the roof of his house in Hukulganj, where he tried to rape her after drugging her. When the woman screamed, they took her to Assi Ghat in an intoxicated state and left her there, her mother alleged.

On April 3, Danish allegedly took her to his friend's room where Sohail, Shoaib and some other accused allegedly drugged and raped her daughter. Later, they left her near Chowkghat. Her daughter came home the next day and told them about her ordeal, the complainant said.