On Sunday, December 31, the Varanasi police arrested three accused in the alleged gangrape case of a female student of the IIT-BHU. The nabbed accused have been identified as Kunal Pandey, Abhishek Chauhan alias Anand, and Saksham Patel.
The incident allegedly occurred on the night of November 1. According to the complainant, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend, when the three accused on a motorcycle, took her away to a secluded place by force, and gagged the victim after separating her from the friend. The victim was then, forced at gunpoint, to undress and was then raped by the three accused, with them recording the heinous act and taking photographs of the victim. The accused also confiscated her mobile phone.
On the basis of the complaint, an FIR against the accused has been lodged under Section 354 of the IPC, and under the provisions of the IT Act, at the Lanka police station. A Section of gangrape has also been added to the FIR. After the complaint was filed, the police began their investigation and reviewed footages from over 170 CCTV cameras on the BHU-IIT campus.
Reportedly, two of the arrested accused, Kunal Pandey and Saksham Patel, are linked with the BJP IT Cell, with Pandey being the metropolitan coordinator in the BJP IT Cell in Varanasi, and Patel being the IT Cell Varanasi metropolitan co-convenor.
