Bhubaneswar:
A 13-year-old girl was raped allegedly by seven men – two employees of a leading television channel, a policeman and four others – here, and the police have launched a manhunt for the accused. The two television channel employees are colleagues of the victim’s mother, police said on Sunday.
The incident occurred during the lockdown period in March-April but no complaint was filed at that time as these two men had threatened the victim and her mother of killing the girl if the matter was reported to the police. However, the woman in late August lodged a complaint with the police accusing the two colleagues, two private security personnel, a policeman and his two associates of raping her daughter in her rented accommodation when she was in office.
The woman and her daughter used to stay in the house in Bhubaneswar while other members of the family live in Kendrapara district. The two had initially fled to Kendrapara after being threatened but later returned to the state capital in August. A medical examination of the girl was conducted on Friday. The police have also recorded her statement.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar, U S Dash said that a special team has been formed to identify the accused persons and several raids were conducted. A police officer engaged in the investigation said that if they can arrest the two TV channel employees who are absconding, it would be easy to capture others.
