• Girl student gang raped near Chamundi foothills as helpless friend watches 
• Wooded area at Lalithadripura a haven for drunkards, anti-socials after dark 

Mysore/Mysuru: In a heinous incident reminiscent of the infamous Nirbhaya gang rape case in New Delhi that rocked the nation years ago where a 23-year-old paramedic student was gang raped in a moving bus while her male friend was assaulted, a 23-year-old MBA student of Mysuru was allegedly gang raped by four or five unidentified persons when she was returning with a male friend in city on Tuesday night.

The Mysuru incident that occurred at around 7.30 pm near Chamundi foothills in the wooded area close to the helipad (Thippayyanakere region of Lalithadripura) that comes under Alanahalli Police Station limits hit headlines, putting the spotlight on the cultural capital where just two days back an armed gang looted a jewellery store in Vidyaranyapuram and shot dead an innocent bystander. 

Though hours after the incident the City Police refused to call it a gang rape, the news was out by late evening when Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra confirmed in Bengaluru that the student was gang raped.   

Demand for money

The girl and her male friend arrived at the wooded area in the evening after College and finally ended the day at a hospital with severe injuries and trauma. Apart from raping the young woman, her companion was beaten up. The assault began when the couple refused to hand over money to a group of men who followed them into the forest and surrounded them.

The accused were drunk when they spotted the couple on an isolated route. Initially, when the girl student’s friend resisted the gang’s advances towards her, the group beat up the young man and they sexually assaulted the girl student. The student’s companion, the Police said, watched in horror as she was raped, unable to go to her defence. The duo were shifted to a private hospital around 1.30 am.

The wooded Lalithadripura area is usually frequented by men after dark for booze parties and hardly there is any Police patrolling. Gangs come in vehicles and get liquor along with them and drink to their heart’s content. In this incident too, the Police suspect the involvement of one such gang.  “A case has been registered based on the girl’s statement. I have instructed the Police to take stringent action against the culprits,” the CM said as the incident triggered outrage.

 FIR registered

 City Top Cop Dr. Chandragupta said last evening that the statement of the girl has not been recorded yet as she was in trauma. “These kinds of incidents are very sensitive… Only after we record the statement of the victim, we will get to know what exactly has happened. Meanwhile, whoever was with her had given information and subsequently we filed an FIR at Alanahalli Police Station,” he said, adding that they have formed an investigating team.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said he had ordered that the case be treated seriously. “An FIR has been registered. ADGP C.H. Pratap Reddy has already gone to Mysuru to oversee the probe. This is an unfortunate incident,” he said.

“Some goons committed the crime after following them. The girl was admitted to a hospital at around 1.30 am. The information was received from the hospital by morning. Further enquiry is being conducted,” the Home Minister added.