Chhattisgarh: Sisters gang-raped by 10 men in Raipur; all accused arrested

Two sisters – one of them a minor – were gang-raped by ten men in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, police said, adding that all the accused, including the son of a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, were arrested on Friday.

According to police, the incident took place on Thursday night near Mandir Hasaud area of Raipur. The sisters – aged 19 and 16 – were returning home after celebrating Rakshabandhan in Mahasamund district with a male friend on a motorcycle when three of the accused intercepted them near a village in Mandir Hasaud area, police said.

Raipur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prashant Agarwal said, “According to the complaint, the three accused robbed them of cash and mobile phones. Meanwhile, the other seven accused reached the spot on four motorcycles. The accused took the two sisters to an isolated place away from the main road and allegedly raped them. Their friend was assaulted and threatened at knife-point.”

The accused fled, leaving behind the two sisters, the assistant superintendent of police (ASP) (rural), Raipur, Neeraj Chandrakar said. “The friend and the two sisters somehow managed to reach the local police patrol unit, from where they were brought to the police station,” Chandrakar said.

“A case was registered, and multiple police teams were constituted, and as per the description of the accused provided by the three and other information, all ten accused were identified and arrested by morning,” the ASP added.

The accused were booked under sections 376D (gang rape), 376DA (gang rape on women under sixteen years of age) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, police said.

One of the accused, Poonam Thakur, who is a habitual offender, is the main accused in the case, police said. According to police, Thakur’s father Laxminarayan Singh Thakur is the son of Mandir-Hasaud’s Mandal vice-president of BJP.

“Five cases have been registered against him (Poonam Thakur) at Mandir Hasaud and Arang police stations in the past. He was arrested in 2019 and 2022 on the charges of murder and rape, respectively and was released on bail last month,” the SSP said.