Chhattisgarh: 3 Govt School Teachers Among 4 Held For Raping Teenage Girl

Four persons, including three government school teachers, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

The girl was allegedly gang-raped twice - on November 15 and 22 - in an area falling under the Janakpur police station limits. A case in this connection was registered on Tuesday based on a complaint lodged by the victim, a police official here said.

The arrested accused were identified as two teachers of a government higher secondary school in Devgarh Ashok Kumar Kushwaha and Kushal Singh Parihar, headmaster of government primary school Devgarh Ravendra Singh Kushwaha and a forest department employee Banwari Singh, he said.

As per the complaint, on November 15, Ravendra took the girl, a Class 11 student of another government school, in his car to Kushal's house on the pretext of helping her in studies, he said.

Another accused, Ashok, was already present at Kushal's house. The trio allegedly took turns to rape the girl, he said.

The accused also recorded the act in their mobile phones and threatened her that they would circulate it if she shared information about the incident to anyone, he said.

The three accused blackmailed the girl and raped her again on November 22 at the rented house of Banwari, who allegedly supported them in the crime, he said.

The girl later mustered courage and narrated her ordeal to her parents, following which a complaint was lodged in this connection on Tuesday, he said.

All four accused were booked under section 70 (2) (gangrape), 49 (punishment of abetment) and 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the official said, adding that further probe was on.

The three accused teachers have been suspended, officials said.