At least seven persons were arrested and forwarded to court on Monday in two incidents of gangrape of two girls, including one minor, under lathikata police station.
The matter came to fore after both the victims lodged their complaints on Monday morning.
Sources said the minor girl aged about 17 years, who is a native of Manco village under lathikata police station, had been to Fertilizer market for bringing some household materials.
When she was returning to her house at about 8 pm, three youths intercepted her in a secluded place and dragged her inside Manco forest area where they raped her one after another. The miscreants then ditched the girl there. The girl was forced to walk back home naked. An old woman, who witnessed her, gave her a saree. She reached her house at night. After a complaint was lodged, lathikata police arrested all three accused youths. Police also organized a medical checkup of both victim girl and accused, before forwarding the accused to court. The arrested persons were identified as Rajesh Gudia (25), Valentine Gudia (27) and Ujjal Tirkey (20).
In another incident, on Rath Yatra evening, a 20-year- old girl, native of Arla Khaman village near Railway Phatak, had been out of home to see off a friend. While returning to her house, five youths forcibly lifted her to a secluded place and raped her. The girl was staying with her uncle’s house, since her parents have expired. Her family members informed the locals about the incident following which a meeting was convened in their village to make a compromise by arranging a marriage of the girl with one of the victims. When that did not happen, the family members of the victim lodged a complaint with police. All five accused were arrested. They were identified as Sumit Bag (21), Glad Dang (19), Dielanus Gudia (26), Rohit Gudia (20) and Rajesh Gudia (25). Significantly, Rajesh was accused in both the rape cases.