Kathmandu, March 21

Police have arrested five persons for allegedly holding a 15-year-old intellectually disabled girl captive for 10 days and gang-raping her.

The suspects are Santosh Ghimire (driver) and Dibash Gadtaula (helper) of the bus, and Bhola Tamang (driver) and Chandra Sapkota (helper) of another bus (Ba 2 Kha 4195), and Sudip Bajgain, all between the ages of 22 and 30 years. According to Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, Ghimire and Gadtaula forced the minor into going to a garage in Balaju on March 1 and raped her many times. The girl had boarded a bus (Ba 4 Kha 3851) from Balkhu in the evening of March 1.

On March 2, Ghimire took the girl to his rented room in Harisiddhi of Lalitpur and confined her there for six days without even allowing the victim to go to toilet. Police said Ghimire repeatedly raped her during captivity. The victim had to answer the nature’s call in the room.

On March 8, Bajgain, another bus helper (who has not been made public), raped her as she tried to escape from their clutches. The next day, Gadtaula found the victim and handed her over to Ghimire, who again raped her. On March 11, Tamang and Sapkota took the victim to a garage in Swoyambhu and gang-raped her.

As the gang rape victim’s health started deteriorating, they forced her into using oral contraceptive pills and left her on a roadside in Swoyambhu on March 12, giving her Rs 250. Police have confiscated women contraceptive pills and condoms from the rented room of Ghimire.

Mother of the victim had filed a ‘missing’ complaint at Children Search Centre, requesting to find her daughter’s whereabouts after she went out of contact without any prior information.

The grieving mother circulated leaflets with the victim’s descriptions and photo in different parts of the city. A notice was also broadcast on television about her missing.

“As the mother found her in Swoyambhu in a very poor state of mental and physical health, she alerted police about it and we launched an all-out investigation to establish the facts and bring the guilty to book,” said SSP Bishwa Raj Pokhrel, MPR in-charge. They have been charged with rape.

(UPDATED)

Five accused of gang raping a minor admit to their crime

KATHMANDU: Five people arrested for kidnapping and repeatedly raping a minor for over a week have admitted to their crime, today.

The main accused is a microbus driver Santosh Ghimire. Along with him, four other accused, including the assistant driver of the mircobus have admitted to committing the crime, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Metropolitan Police Range, Mohan Thapa.

The girl had boarded a bus (Ba 4 Kha 3851) from Balkhu in the evening of March 1. She was later taken to Lalitpur, where she was held by the microbus driver and was raped repeatedly by him and the others. It is said that the victim is intellectually disabled.

Further investigation into the case is underway.