Four arrested in two women gang rape case-Telangana Today

The accused are being questioned by police at an undisclosed location, while efforts are underway to locate two other suspects. The arrests followed police review of CCTV footage from the area where a woman and her stepdaughter were sexually assaulted by a gang.

Anantapur: Four people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the gang rape of two women in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Sathya Sai district, police said on Sunday.

The accused are questioned by the police at an undisclosed location. Police teams were on the lookout for two other accused.

The arrests came after police obtained CCTV footage from the area where a woman and her stepdaughter were sexually assaulted by a gang.

The accused, considered habitual criminals, committed the gang rape after assaulting male family members in a remote village in Chilamattur Mandal on the intervening night of October 11 and 12.

The family from Bellary in neighboring Karnataka had migrated to the village to earn a living.

Unidentified persons broke into the premises of an under-construction paper factory and attacked two men working as security guards. They later gang-raped the women.

The shocking incident, which was reported from Hindupur Assembly constituency, created a stir across the state.

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister for Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections S. Savita on Sunday visited the victims at a hospital in Hindupur, where they were undergoing treatment.

The minister assured them of all help from the government.

She said six accused were all addicted to ‘ganja’ and involved in several crimes. The police investigation revealed that they had also been convicted in a few cases.

Savita claimed that such incidents were happening due to the failures of the previous government.

The minister said the government would act with an iron fist to end the menace of ‘ganja’.

Earlier, Sri Sathya Sai district Superintendent of Police V. Ratna visited the crime scene on Sunday and met the family members of the victims.

Police scanned CCTV footage from the area. Although some cameras located around the crime scene were found damaged, police were able to recover footage from other cameras.

All the accused are believed to be between 25 and 30 years old. They have been involved in several crimes and have even been convicted in some cases.

The victims were being treated at a hospital in Hindupur. The police recorded their statements as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Hindupur MP Nandamuri Balakrishna spoke to the family members of the survivors over telephone and assured them of all support from the government.