Chennai, November 17: Police have rescued a 16-year-old girl, who was drugged by her relative, gang-raped by five men and then blackmailed with an obscene video for a year from Tamil Nadu’s Trichy. Three accused have been arrested and police are hunting for two more involved in the crime.

According to TOI, the minor girl was taken by her relative, Ranganathan, to a secluded area on a bike, where he drugged her. The accused then called four of his friends who sexually assaulted her and recorded the crime on their phones. Thereafter, they threatened her saying they will circulate the video if she refused to have sex with them, and continued the assault. Assam Shocker: Man Kills Minor Girl in Sonitpur After Rape Attempt, Confesses His Crime

The child’s parents, noticing a change in her behaviour, had gotten her married to a person in Trichy. But on a tip-off by child right activists, police had rescued her and lodged her in a government home. Lucknow Shocker: Man Attempts To Rape 11-Year-Old Girl in Toilet at King George's Medical University, Arrested

It was after this that the video went viral on WhatsApp and her father came to know about it. He lodged a complaint with the child welfare committee (CWC), Trichy, on November 12. Musiri All-Women Police who, upon investigation, discovered that there was a brawl between Ranganathan and his friends when one of them shared the video on WhatsApp.

The police booked five people on November 13. The five were slapped with sections of IPC, Pocso Act and Information Technology (IT) Act. Three of them Ranganathan, Manikandan and Ganesh were arrested while officials are also on the lookout for two more accused.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 17, 2022 12:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).