Nine, including minor, arrested in Odisha gangrape case

Nine persons, including a juvenile, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the gangrape of a college student in a forest in Odisha's Kalahandi district nearly two weeks ago, police said. While six of the accused, including the juvenile, had allegedly raped the woman, three others were booked for uploading the recorded video of the crime on social media, Kalahandi Superintendent of Police B Gangadhar said.

The woman, 22, was raped by six people on the afternoon of September 14 in the isolated Jaring forest area, he said. She had lodged an FIR late on Sunday night at Junagarh police station, the SP said.

The woman, a student of a private nursing college at Junagarh, approached the police after the video became viral on social media, police said. In her complaint, the woman said she had come to Bhawanipatna for some work on September 14 and was waiting at a bus stand here to return to Junagarh, when a man known to her offered a lift in his car.

As they approached the Jaring area, the group of men, with their faces covered, stopped the car and pulled her out while brandishing a knife, and dragged her into the forest. The attackers then raped her and disappeared, police said, quoting her complaint.

Police has seized the mobile phones of the accused persons. The six accused of rape have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the SP added..