A 21-year-old woman was abducted in broad daylight and gang-raped by two men when she was returning home from a coaching institute in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Saturday.

The accused men, Shailendra Singh, a former classmate of the victim, and three others have been arrested by the police.

The woman is currently preparing for banking competitive exams. She told police that she had seen 21-year-old Shailendra when she left her coaching center in MP Nagar at around 11.30 am.

Rape
The student in Bhopal was abducted and gang-raped. (Representational Image)Creative Commons

"Shailendra approached her and asked her to sit on his bike. He snatched her cell phone when she refused to go with him," a police officer said.

She kept pleading, but Shailendra refused to return her phone. At last, he forced her to sit on his bike and took her to a friend's room near Apsara Talkies.

Shailendra's friends Dheeraj Rajput, 26, Sonu Dangi, 21, and Chiman Rajput, 25, were present in the room. When the victim entered the room, Shailendra slapped her a few times and smashed her head into a wall. She requested them to let her go but was thrashed and gang-raped by Shailendra and Dheeraj.

They threatened to kill her and her family if she reported the sexual assault. They allowed her to return home at around 1:30 pm. Initially, the woman kept the incident to herself but eventually, she broke down and narrated the incident to her parents.

Arrested
The accused men have been arrested. (Representational Image)Creative Commons

A complaint was filed with MP Nagar police station Sunday and the accused were nabbed within a few hours. The cops also paraded the four accused in public late Sunday evening. It is also alleged that they were publicly flogged by locals.

They have been booked under section 376 (rape) 376D (gang-rape), 365 (kidnapping and abducting), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.