Two young Indian Army officers were assaulted and one of their two female friends was allegedly raped by unidentified men while the group was on a picnic in the Indore district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.
Badgonda police station in-charge Lokendra Singh Hirore stated that the officers, aged 23 and 24, who were undergoing the Young Officers (YO) course at the Infantry School in Mhow cantonment, had gone on a picnic on Tuesday with their two female friends.
Around 2 am on Wednesday, a group of seven people arrived near the picnic spot on the Mhow-Mandleshwar road and began assaulting one of the officers and a female friend who were sitting in the car.
The other officer and the woman, who were on a hilltop, came to the scene after hearing the commotion. The attackers held the pair they had attacked in the car hostage at gunpoint.
In addition, they demanded that the other officer give Rs 10 lakh as ransom. The officer then took advantage of this to alert his higher-ups in Mhow, who notified the police. When the police team arrived at the location, the attackers had already left.
After the Army officers and their female friends were taken to the Mhow Civil Hospital, a medical examination revealed that one of the women was raped.
Based on the complaint made by the officer, a case has been registered under provisions of the Arms Act as well as sections 70 (gangrape), 310-2 (dacoity), 308-2 (extortion), and 115-2 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Additional superintendent of police Rupesh Dwivedi said that six suspects have been identified so far. Two of them are currently in custody.
Indore Rural SP Hitika Vasal stated that one of those detained has a case of loot registered against him in 2016. “We arrested two men. One of them has a case of loot registered against him in 2016. This was not an organised gang. They saw these young people who had gathered at a night spot and decided to attack them. One person also had a pistol on him,” Vasal said.
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