The Bengaluru police on Friday said that they had to resort to gun power in bringing down at least two of the four accused in the brutal rape of a woman who was alleged to have been trafficked from Bangladesh.
Within hours of Assam police posting the viral video showing the woman being sexually tortured and assaulted by the men, the Bengaluru police on Thursday nabbed all four persons, city police revealed hours after their success.
All four were taken to Karegowda Layout, K. Channasandra, where they stayed in a rented house. Early Friday, two of them, Ridoy Babu, 25, and Sagar, 23, attacked the policemen and tried to flee. The police opened fire in self-defence.
"Both were shot at their knees before they were nabbed and are now being treated at a government hospital," the police said.
The Bengaluru police continues to track the victim, said to be a 22-year-old woman from Bangladesh, who is believed to be in a neighbouring state, and a part of a prostitution ring run by the quadrate.
A special team has been sent to track her down and bring her to the city to join the probe. The police at Ramamurthy Nagar on Thursday after the arrest had said in a statement that the video was shot around 10 days back, and the five men, believed to be Bangaladeshis, were involved in an international human trafficking racket.
The police team led by Ramamurhty Nagar police inspector, Melvin Francis had opened fire at the two accused when they tried to escape from the crime scene after attacking Banaswadi Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) N. S. Sakri and other police personnel in the team, the police said.
Sequence of events
Sakri's team took the accused to K. Channasandra, where the brutal rape was alleged to have taken place. A senior official said all four were questioned after they were arrested on Thursday late night to ascertain the sequence of events that transpired and led to the crime and also about their human trafficking network.
"These accused were also questioned about their associates and friends who helped him to hide. They were also 'properly' interrogated about where they have hid the victim or where she possibly might be getting treated after their heinous crime," the police said.
The brutal rape came to light after a video clip was first tweeted by the Assam State police on Thursday morning seeking other states' co-operation to nab perpetrators who appeared in this clip.
At 3:45-minute in the video clip, the four men were seen brutally raping a young woman. The video went viral in Northeast India on Thursday. Another woman, said to be an accomplice of the four, was also present during the incident.
Within hours of the Assam police tweet, the Bengaluru police took a suo moto cognizance and nabbed four men. After Assam police tweeted, Union Minister of State for Youth affairs, Kiren Rijiju followed up, asking the police of all states and union territories to help and track the accused.
The Assam police eventually rebuilt the chain of forwards that led them to a Bengaluru-based number and they alerted the city police on Thursday afternoon, sources said. Soon Bengaluru police tracked down the accused to their house and arrested the four men and the woman.
According to the thread of tweets, Bengaluru city police commissioner, Kamal Pant said that "based on the contents of the video clip and facts as disclosed during the interrogation of the accused persons, a case of rape, assault and other relevant provisions of the law, has been generated against the accused".
"As per information revealed so far, all of them are part of the same group and believed to be from Bangladesh. Due to financial differences, the culprits brutalised the victim who is also said to be a Bangladeshi, brought to India for human trafficking," Pant added.
He also added that the investigation is being carried with full earnestness and under the supervision of senior officers.
(IANS inputs)
