6 held in TN for ‘gang-raping’ Russian

CHENNAI: Barely a day after the Tamil Nadu Police arrested 17 persons accused of gang-raping a 11-year-old school girl in Chennai, six persons were detained on Wednesday for allegedly gang raping a 21-yearold Russian woman in Tiruvannamalai.

Tiruvannamalai is a temple town that houses the famous Annamalaiyar temples besides several Ashrams and attracts thousands of foreign devotees.

The survivor is believed to have reached the town and checked into a service apartment on July 12. Police said seven persons including the apartment owner raped her on Monday.

“The victim had come to Tiruvannamalai to learn about meditation and ‘Girivalam’[a practice of walking around the holy hill of Tiruvannamalai]... On Monday midnight, police came to know that a foreigner was lying unconscious in her room. We then rescued the girl and admitted her to the hospital... The police confirmed that she had been molested sexually,” said a senior police official.

The Tiruvannamalai police on Tuesday night filed cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376 (punishment for rape) and 511(punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) against the six accused.

According to R Ponni, superintendent of police(sp) Tiruvannamalai district an enquiry was ongoing.

“The victim is stable now. Once she gets her consciousness, we hope to understand what happened. On the other hand, we are taking all possible steps to curb the irregularities in the arrival of foreigners to Tiruvannamalai. Also, the lodges and service apartments are under our scanner. We have called lodge owners for a meeting on Wednesday morning...,” the superintendent of police said.

Meanwhile a team of officials from the consulate-general of the Russian Federation in Chennai rushed to Tiruvannamalai on Wednesday, to obtain further details.

THE INCIDENT COMES AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF 17 PEOPLE BEING HELD FOR GANGRAPING A 11YEAROLD SCHOOL GIRL IN CHENNAI