Police files chargesheet in minor gangrape case within 35 days

Rayagada (Odisha), Feb 8 (PTI) Acting swiftly, police today filed a charge sheet within 35 days before a court here against four persons allegedly involved in the gangrape of a minor orphan girl who later immolated herself. "We have filed the charge sheet before the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Rayagada, against four accused persons under various sections of IPC," Inspector in charge of Rayagada town police station Prasant Kumar Bhupati said. Four accused persons identified as Bharat Khosla, Naveen Mallik, Mallik Khosla and Muna Chhatria were arrested immediately after the crime and sent to jail custody. The accused, who are aged between 19 to 24 years, were charged with gang-rape, abatement of suicide, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement and voluntarily causing serious hurt, Bhupati said. Police had recorded the statement of 56 witnesses during investigation. The victim, an orphan, who was staying with her grandmother, was raped by four persons while returning home from her work place in Odisha's Rayagada town on January 2. Unable to cope with the humiliation, the girl set herself on fire the next day and had sustained over 80 per cent burn injury. After battling for life in the local government hospital, she was shifted to a private hospital at Vishakhapatnam on January 7 where she breathed her last on January 15. PTI COR AAM NIK HKR