A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men in Surat on Tuesday, said police. The girl was on her way to her home with a friend on a bike when the incident happened, officials added. This is the second such incident in Gujarat in less than a week after a minor was gang-raped in Vadodara last week.
Of the three, two accused have been arrested in the case. Hitesh Joyser, Superintendent of Police, Surat, said a special investigation team has been formed to carry out the probe.
The incident happened on Tuesday night when the girl and her friend stopped midway in a deserted place as their bike was running low on fuel, police said. Scared when three men suddenly approached them, both of them tried fleeing the place. But the accused allegedly overpowered the girl.
Her friend was able to escape, and he tried to get help from locals, police added. Some villagers later launched a search operation for the girl, and were able to find her. The accused, however, had fled the spot by then. They also stole the phones of the girl and her friend.
Joyser said, “We found a bike lying abandoned near the crime spot. We took details of it from the Surat Regional Transport Office, and found it was purchased by a resident of Surat in 2005. Finally, the details of the last owner of the bike led us to the house of the accused. The Crime Branch officials also joined in the probe.”
Police arrested the two accused following a brief chase after their arrival at Karanj where the three men were found to be living in a rented house. While two accused, Munna Paswan (40), and Shivshanker alias Dayashanker Chorasiya (45), were nabbed, the third accused managed to escape.
Joyser further added, “We have arrested two persons and our team is searching for the third one. Both the accused had criminal records and they committed crimes in Vadodara, Bharuch and Surat. For the last few months, they were staying in a rented place in the Karanj area. We are digging out more information from them.”
Chorasiya was booked earlier this year in a case related to the Arms Act. He has also been booked in a murder case in 2017 and a theft case in 2023. Paswan has been booked in at least seven theft cases, said officials.
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