Mumbai: A 19-year-old student of a college was allegedly raped by a man in Nagpur, the police said on Sunday. The accused and his friend were arrested within hours of the incident which occurred on the night of November 2 along the Hyderabad-Jabalpur highway at Hudkeshwar, an official said.
The woman and her male friend are pursuing B.Com in a college and are classmates. The incident occurred when two men spotted the victim and her male friend sitting together behind bushes at an isolated place, he said. The men then attacked the duo and one of them dragged the victim’s friend to the road while the other man raped her behind the bushes, the official said.
Before leaving, the accused told the woman that his two friends would be coming in a short while and told her not to leave the spot, the official said. In the meantime, the male friend tried to stop vehicles plying on the highway for help, but to no avail, he said. The official said the male friend couldn’t summon help immediately, as his mobile phone was switched off.
“After sometime, a truck driver stopped his vehicle and took him to the nearest eating joint (dhaba) from where he contacted the police,” he said. A police team rushed to the spot where they found the woman and took her to hospital, he said.
Police registered a case of gang rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and within hours picked up two suspects who are identified as Anil Thete (46) and Baba Bhagat (38), the official said. Thete is a resident of Butibori and Bhagat of Hudkeshwar in Nagpur, he said. As per prima facie investigation, it was Thete who allegedly raped the woman while Bhagat abetted the crime.