Cuttack: The Commisionerate Police nabbed another person in connection with the alleged blackmailing and gang-rape of a 19-year-old college student in Cuttack, taking the total number of arrests to seven.
The accused, identified as Badal Sahu, was apprehended by the police team from Visakhapatnam in Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. A resident of Nayagarh in Khurda district, he was working at a tea stall under a fake identity.
“Badal was a friend of prime accused Asutosh Behera. He confessed to have raped the victim along with the other accused at an under-construction house in Baranga,” a senior police officer said.
The incident, which took place during Dussehra, came to light after the girl lodged a complaint at Badambadi police station last month. Asutosh, the boyfriend of the Plus III Commerce student, had allegedly invited her to a café at Kathagada Sahi under Purighat police limits to celebrate her birthday during which he established a physical relation with her. With the help of the owner of the café, he secretly captured some of their intimate moments in phone and used the videos to blackmail the girl and raped her repeatedly.
On November 8, six individuals, including a minor, were arrested for allegedly raping the college student multiple times and videographing the act.
The survivor’s family had then claimed that one more accused was absconding.
