Cuttack Gang Rape case: Don't get trapped or scared if being blackmailed, appeals DCP

A day after a youth and five of his friends were arrested on the charges of gang-raping his girlfriend in Cuttack, DCP Jagmohan Meena appealed to any victim, who is being blackmailed, to come forward and lodge an FIR without any fear and hesitation.

“I appeal to all women if they are being blackmailed, to not be trapped or get scared. Instead, we have a dedicated women's desk to help victims. So I request you all to report without any hesitation. The law will take its course,” the DCP appealed through a press meet on Friday.

Without revealing much due to the sensitivity of the case, the DCP revealed that one of the six accused is a minor and all of them had been booked under relevant sections of the SC/ST and IT Act. 

“We have registered a case under SC/ST act. A special team led by Zone-6 ACP Swastik Panda along with Badambadi and Purighat IICs investigated the case and arrested six persons. During the probe, we learnt that the accused had an obscene video of the victim and blackmailed her. They have sexually assaulted her on two different occasions,” informed Cuttack DCP Jagmohan Meena.

“We are probing if the accused have sent the videos to anyone else. We have seized all their phones,” the DCP added.

As per reports, the rape survivor had celebrated her birthday with her boyfriend at a café in Purighat Police limits during Dussehra. The accused boyfriend with the help of the café owner, a resident of Bhagatpur, had secretly shot some obscene act that was later used to blackmail the girl.

Threatening to circulate the video, they called her to a house in Barang area where she was allegedly gang raped. The accused continued to blackmail her and gang rape her on several occasions until she mustered courage and lodged a complaint at Badambadi police station.

Based on the complaint, police arrested the accused-three from the Jhanjarimangala area, one each from Barang, Bhagatpur and Nayagarh. All six of them have been forwarded to court, the DCP informed.

A probe is on to find out the involvement of any other café employees in trapping the girl, the DCP added.