In yet another horrifying incident that shocked West Bengal's capital, a 26-year-old woman was abducted and gang raped on Saturday evening, police said.
The victim, whose identity is undisclosed, was on her way home from work when she was forced to get into a car by five men near Chetla in South Kolkata. She was blindfolded and raped by at least two of the men.
"The victim, who works as a medical attendant, was returning home when she was forcibly picked up from Chetla in south Kolkata by five men in a vehicle and was gang raped by at least two people," news agency IANS quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh as saying.
"On the basis of her complaint, we have arrested a man who is alleged to have been following and harassing the woman for the past one month," he added.
The crime scene Chetla, from where the woman was kidnapped, is one of the best-known residential localities in Kolkata and is mostly crowded. She was dragged into the car at around 7:10 pm at a time when there would be hundreds of people walking down the street.
The victim, who is a mother of a ten-year-old girl, said in a police complaint that the abductors attacked her near the gates of a multi-storied building in Chetla and bundled her into a vehicle. The abductors drove for around 30 minutes and then they took her to a house, where she was stripped and raped by at least by two of the attackers after removing her blindfold, The Times of India reported.
According to police sources, the kidnappers threatened the victim saying that her daughter too would be raped if she informed the police about the incident.
In the wee hours of Sunday the goons brought the victim to the same place from where she was kidnapped and dumped her on the slope of Chetla Bridge.
"After the rape, around 3am, she was allowed to wear her clothes. She was once more blindfolded and taken into the car, groaning in pain. At 3.40am, she was dumped on the western slope of Chetla Bridge in a semi-conscious state. She somehow managed to go back to her house. On Sunday, she mustered enough courage to lodge a complaint against 10 unknown people at Charu Market police station," Joint Commissioner (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh told TOI.
Meanwhile, Sunanda Mukherjee, the chairperson of West Bengal Commission for Women indicated that the attack was a planned act.
"Going by the reports, it seems to be a planned offence. The fact that the offenders used condoms while committing the crime shows that it was not a random but a planned offence. They also had details of the woman as to where she goes to work and when she returns," said Mukherjee.
