Two gangrapes in 10 days shock Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Two gangrapes on the outskirts of Bengaluru in just 10 days have sent shockwaves across the city. While a 28-year-old destitute woman, who is from Nepal, was raped by five unidentified men at a deserted house in Avadi Devanahalli in Anekal, a 24-year-old garment factory worker was allegedly raped by a gang of four men, including a 32-year-old rowdy, at her house in Dombarahalli in Madanayakanahalli police limits.

The destitute woman has been staying in the city since 2003 doing odd jobs for a living and sleeping at bus-stops and public places around Anekal. On Thursday night, as she was asleep at a bus stop at Avadadevanahalli in Anekal, the five unidentified men dragged her to the deserted house near the bus stop in and raped her. The woman was also assaulted badly until she fell unconscious and the men left the house thinking she was dead. The woman, who regained her consciousness on Saturday morning, limped out of the deserted house and sat at the bus-stop. It was then the woman was rescued by Parijata and Shankar - two volunteers of a city-based NGO - after they saw her semi-nude sitting and sobbing. After she narrated the ordeal to the volunteers, they rushed her to the Bowring Hospital and informed the police, Amit Singh, SP, Bengaluru Rural, told Deccan Chronicle.

"A special team has been formed to nab the accused and we will check for CCTV footage from the locality to identify the culprits. We suspect that it was committed by the men who stay in the same locality," he said, adding that the woman has suffered multiple fractures. In another gang rape in Dombarahalli village in Madanayakanahalli police limits, the police have arrested three accused, including the rowdy who barged into the house of garment factor worker and raped her. The incident took place on the night of November 16, but came to light on Saturday after the arrest. Another accused in the case is at large whom police are searching.

The police said that the arrested accused – Raghavendra, a history-sheeter in Rajagopalnagar police station, and his friends Venkatesh, an auto driver, Puneeth and another accused Vijay Kumar, who is absconding, forced themselves into the woman's house in search of her husband. When they did not find him and saw that the woman was alone, they raped her and fled. Later, the woman and her husband filed a complaint with the police, who arrested Raghavendra along with Puneeth and Venkatesh.