KARAIKAL: A 20-year-old woman was abducted by a gang of four people and was gang-raped by them in Karaikal on December 24. Within minutes after she was let off by the gang another gang of eight people abducted her and took turns to rape her. Police rescued the woman following a tip off from a resident and arrested 11 members of the two different gangs. The incident took place on Christmas eve.

Police said Smitha (name changed) working in a computer company in Tamil Nadu accompanied her relative Rani (name changed) to Karaikal to meet the latter’s boyfriend on December 24. The three visited various places in Karaikal and reached the town. A group of four men, which had been following them, assaulted the youth and attempted to abduct the two women. However, the youth managed to escape along with his lover. The gang abducted the other woman.

They took her to a secluded place and gang-raped her. They let her off later. The traumatized woman made desperate attempts to contact her relative and the youth. Another gang of eight men spotted her and abducted her. They took her to a secluded place and took turns to rape her.

In the meantime, the members of the first gang learnt that the woman was abducted by another gang. They managed to trace a member of the second gang near the secluded place and attacked him. The members of the second gang on learning that their aide was attacked reached the spot and soon a group clash followed. A local resident alerted the police. A team reached the spot and arrested three men while remaining escaped.

On inquiries, police found that the two gangs had abducted and raped a woman. Police rescued the woman and launched a hunt for the other men, who escaped. Police registered cases against eleven people under IPC sections 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 376 – 2 (g) (punishment for rape – commits rape during communal or sectarian violence), 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).

Senior superintendent of police (Karaikal) Monika Bahardwaj, who took the statement from the victim said police have launched a full-fledged investigation and started gathering evidence to ascertain the veracity of her claims. She did not rule out the role of her relative’s lover in the crime. “We have launched a detailed probe. We will be in a position to establish the facts only after investigations,” the SSP said. Police suspended sub-inspector Venkatachalapathy and head constable Sabapathy for their lapses in dealing with the incident.