22-yr-old raped by 3 men in deserted mill at Mahalaxmi. Two other goons held down her male colleague while she was attacked, victim tells cops; police prepare sketches of suspects based on her description and detain eight men from the area for questioning. Three men allegedly gang-raped a 22-year-old journalism intern while two others assaulted her male colleague inside a deserted mill compound in Mahalaxmi on Thursday evening, police said. Officers of the NM Joshi Marg police station said the woman, a photography intern, had gone inside the locked Shakti Mill compound with a senior colleague at 5.30 pm to shoot pictures of the deserted 10-acre premises. In her statement to the police, the woman said five goons who were present inside the compound started passing comments and harassing her. When her colleague intervened, two men assaulted and restrained him. The three others took the woman inside the dilapidated structure and raped her. The three then came out and assaulted her colleague again before running away. The colleague then rushed the woman to Jaslok Hospital. The police said the woman heard two of the assailants talking to each other as they assaulted her and has given their names as Sajid and Rupesh. "The two were walking along the tracks from Mahalaxmi station to Elphinstone station taking pictures," said a senior police official. "They saw the desolate mill and decided to take some pictures there. When they entered the deserted mill from the trackside, some men accosted them. They asked if they had permission to take photos inside the mill, which they said was railway property. When the two said no, they caught them and said they need to take them to senior officials. The two were dragged away. While some men beat the guy, three men took the woman away and raped her." The police said the assailants may be drug addicts who frequent the abandoned mill compound. At the time of going to press, the police had detained eight men from the area for questioning based on the statements given by the woman and her colleague.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:44:15 +0000