Kannauj (Uttar
Pradesh), September 30: In Kannuaj, two minor girls, aged 15 and 16, were
allegedly taken hostage and gangraped in a cyber cafe, where they had gone to
get some documents photocopied, Uttar Pradesh police said on Monday.
Police
officials familiar with the case added that while one person has been arrested,
three others were detained in connection with the case.
The heinous incident
mirrors the utterly disgusting statistics of crime against women in the state,
according to many opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, took place on September
13. The minors had visited the cafe run by one of the accused but were allegedly held
captive for several hours and raped by four men who also recorded a video of the
incident.
Blackmailing
the two, the accused later extorted ₹10,000 from the girls by threatening to
circulate the clip.
The incident
would have never been known had the families of the two survivors not found huge
amounts of money missing from their homes. This was the money extorted from the
girls, said Kannauj Superintendent of Police, Prashant Varma.
After the
money was found missing, one of the two girls, alleged that she and her friend
(second survivor) stole money from their respective houses to meet the
accused’s demand.
Based on the
information, an FIR was filed at Sadar Kotwali against four people under
section 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, says SP Prashant Varma.
Bhanu
Bhaskar, Additional DGP, Kanpur zone, said several teams were formed to arrest
the accused. Subsequently, one person was arrested from Gorakhpur on Monday
evening and the remaining three were nabbed from Kannauj district.
The police
then sent the two girls to a district hospital for medical examination.
Police also claim they found signs of prostitution from the cafe. While questioning, one of the girls also told police that the wife of one of the accused made her phone calls, pressurising her into prostitution.