Mall employee gangraped in Kolkata, one arrested

KOLKATA: A 21-year-old woman, returning home in a shared taxi, was allegedly gangraped by five-six youths, looted of her belongings and then dropped in a deserted place in the city, police said today.

A drug addict, was arrested this evening in connection with the crime committed last night, Kolkata Police Commissioner S K Purakayastha said. He was identified as Mohammad Hamid alias Raja.

"We have arrested Mohammed Hamid in the case. He has admitted to the crime. The victim is quite stable now. We are investigating the case and are on a lookout to nab the other culprits," Purakayastha said after meeting the girl at Belle Vue clinic.

The incident took place when the woman, an employee of a mall in the southern part of the city and who hails from Kulgachia in Howrah district, was returning home along with her friends around 9 pm.

Police said the woman and her friends hired a taxi to Park Circus where she dropped her companions and then went to Kidderpore from where she intended to catch a bus to Howrah.

At that time, a car stopped by her side and five-six youths pulled her inside the vehicle brandishing a knife. The car then sped off to a deserted area nearby where the youths pulled her out and then dragged her inside a vacant lorry and took turns in raping her.

According to police sources, the truck in which the crime took place has also been tracked.

"A gangrape has been recorded. After work, she boarded a shuttle taxi and was dragged away forcibly by four or five youths in Kidderpore and was raped in a vacant place," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Port Division) V. Solomon Nesakumar told reporters.

After the incident, the men left her at Babughat and fled. She was semi-conscious and somehow managed to alert her relatives through a phone call from the Howrah railway station.

She has been admitted to Howrah State General Hospital.

A formal complaint was registered at Wattgunj police station Monday.