Varanasi teen kidnapped, gang-raped by 23 ex-classmates, Instagram contacts
What's the story
A 19-year-old girl from Varanasi has alleged that she was abducted and subjected to sexual assault by various individuals from March 29 to April 4.
The Class 12 student had gone missing after she went to a hookah bar on March 29. She reached home on April 4 and revealed her ordeal to her family, who informed police.
Some of the accused are familiar faces from social media interactions and former classmates.
Assault details
How the incident unfolded
"On March 29, a friend took her to a hookah bar...where other men also joined. The girl alleged that she was drugged with a spiked cold drink and then taken to different hotels in the Sigra area, where she was gang-raped," said a UP Police official.
But the girl's nightmare didn't end there.
On March 30, she ran into one of the accused and his friend, who forced her on a motorcycle, raped her again, and left her at Nadesar.
Continued assault
The girl was sexually assaulted by multiple men
The next day, she was again kidnapped by five men, who took her to a restaurant in Maldahiya, drugged her, and gang-raped her again, Times of India reported.
On April 1, another attacker brought her to a hotel where three other men were waiting.
She was made to massage a client, during which an unknown man raped her. After she left the hotel, she was picked up by yet another man, who took her to another hotel and raped her.
Final days
The girl managed to escape her captors
Then one of the accused and two others took her to a warehouse in Aurangabad and raped her again.
She managed to escape and sat outside a mall in Sigra. But her nightmare wasn't over.
Two men approached her there on April 2, offered drug-laced noodles, and raped her before leaving her at Assi Ghat.
Rescue attempt
On April 3, she reached a friend's house
On April 3, the girl reached a friend's house but fell asleep due to intoxicants.
In the evening, she met another man and his friend, who took her to a hotel where three more men were waiting. They drugged her and raped her before dropping her off at Chowkaghat.
She finally reached another friend's house nearby on April 4 and was taken back home.
Legal proceedings
Police have arrested 6 men
The girl's family had lodged a complaint at Lalpur Police Station, following which an FIR was filed against all 23 accused.
Six men have been arrested till now, while 17 remain unidentified or at large.
Police are also questioning staff at the hookah bar the girl was last seen at and are reviewing the CCTV footage from there too.