5 apprehended for gangrape; 14 held for attempting to 'settle' case

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Five people have been apprehended for allegedly gang-raping a woman and assaulting her husband for three days at a poultry farm here.

Nine more people have been taken into custody for attempting to force the couple to "settle" the issue, Rachakonda Police said on Monday.

Two cases have been registered in this matter and a special team has been formed to nab the accused, police said.

"We have apprehended fourteen people in connection with this case. Five people allegedly gang-raped the woman and others tried to settle the case forcibly after the crime took place. One more accused is absconding and yet to be arrested," read a statement by the police.

On September 18, the woman and her husband employees at a poultry farm here were taken to another poultry farm in Thukkuguda village by the farm owner Mucha Prasanth Reddy.

According to police, Reddy confined the woman inside a room and allegedly raped her, while her husband was tied and attacked by the other accused outside the room.

Later the four other accused - Mucha Anil Reddy, Bharath, Devarshetty Pavan Kumar, and Cikkimpuri Hanmanthu - entered the room and gang-raped the woman. The couple was reportedly intoxicated by the accused.

The woman who shouted for help was purportedly also thrashed by the accused with sticks, belts and rod.

The woman and her husband were later sent away from the farm on September 20 with threats that they would be killed if they approached the police.

Meanwhile, the accused had also kidnapped one Suresh and thrashed him with sticks and belts and kept him in the same poultry farm and released him the next morning on September 21.

Soon after the incident, other ten accused including Ravinder, Bhavani Venkat Reddy, Jatavath Ravinder, Charalapally Yadaiah, Jarpula Raju, Baygari Suresh, Anugu Lokesh, Megavath Vijay Kumar, Mucha Janardhan Reddy and Chandrashekar Reddy (absconding) approached the first five accused and asked them to compromise the issue as well as they promised to settle the matter.

During the process, these ten accused persons asked poultry farm owner Prashanth Reddy to pay the survivor, her husband and Suresh an amount of Rs 2,50,000 to ensure the victims do not lodge a police complaint.

On receiving the amount the woman and her husband were taken to Harshaguda village and a panchayat convened to reach a compromise, which they allegedly forced the victims to sign.

After handing over Rs 1,02,000 to the couple and Rs 1,30,000 to Suresh, the remaining amount was divided amongst themselves by the 10 accused.

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