Bantwal, 11 Oct 2021: The gang rape case got a new twist after the accused were arrested on Saturday. As per the case booked at Bantwal town police station, sleuths began investigations based on the complaint that the accused had gang raped the girl in a deserted area at the limits of Amtady gram panchayat, near here. However, it has been confirmed the accused had gang raped the girl in a private lodge at Mangaluru city.
Accordingly, the police booked the cases under POCSO Act on 4 accused namely K S Sharat Shetty, a native of Kaup in Udupi district, Maruti Manjunat, lodge Satish and Idayatulla, a native of Uttar Kannada.
Background of the case
As per the complaint lodged by the victim, the police arrested 4 accused and subjected them to heavy interrogations.
The victim got to know of K S Sharat Shetty through FB who introduced her to his relative Maruti Manjunat. Manjunat is the worst character who had made several obscene video calls to the victim on WhatsApp and laid the trap to exploit her innocence. Meanwhile, Sharat asked the victim to come to City Mall in Mangaluru to meet him. When she reached the Mall, Sharat took her to a lodge where he raped her. He also invited his friend Idayatulla to the lodge who also raped her, as per the info handed by the investigating team.
The accused lodge owner Satish has provided room for other accused to the criminal act. The investigations revealed that he also sexually abused the victim who was in distress and managed to board a bus to her native Bantwal.
The swift investigations by Bantwal town police revealed the truth although the accused fabricated the story that they had kidnapped the victim in a car and gang raped in a deserted area. The manhunt is laid to nab other accused who are at large.
The investigations are underway at the direction of DK SP Rishikesh Sonavane led by ASO Shivamshu Rajput, in coordination with Bantwal CI T D Nagaraj, ASI Avinash, Prasanna and others.