4 arrested over 19-year-old’s gang rape inside car in Kochi, say cops

THE SURVIVOR SAID SHE SUSPECTS HER DRINK WAS SPIKED BY THE ACCUSED AT THE HOTEL PARTY

Four people, including a woman, have been arrested in connection with the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old woman after she left a party at a hotel in Kochi on Thursday night, police said on Saturday.

Kochi police commissioner (CP) CH Nagaraju said the incident took place when the survivor arrived at the hotel with a woman friend from Rajasthan.

In her statement, the survivor said she was invited to the party by her friend who introduced her to the men.

She said the men offered to drop her home after she got inebriated, the CP said.

“The woman alleged she was gang raped in the moving vehicle by the men while her friend stayed back at the hotel,” he said.

“Medical evidence suggests she was sexually assaulted. After committing the crime, the men dropped the victim at Kakkanad,” a senior police officer said, asking not to be named.

The woman was admitted to the hospital after her friend alerted police, the officer added.

Speaking to a news channel, the survivor, an aspiring model, said she suspects her drink was spiked at the party.

“I spent almost two hours at the party with my friend Dimple Lamba. My beer was mixed with some intoxicant. I got intoxicated quickly and Dimple asked me to get into a car. I was under the impression she was also there but she excused. Later, I was brutally assaulted by the men,” she said.

The accused men were identified as P Vivek, Nithin and K Sudeep, all in their 30s.

Police said they have registered a case under the Indian Penal Code and seized the vehicle in which the purported rape took place.

Nagaraju said there was an element of trafficking also involved in the incident. “There is an element of trafficking in this. Section 370 involving antihuman trafficking has also been added in the FIR as a person has been moved from one place to another for this purpose,” he said. Condemning the incident, state women commission chairperson P Sathi Devi said: “We will give all possible help to the survivor.”