The arrested men in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, April 16: Four days after a teenage girl, a resident of Burnpur in Bengal, was beaten up and gangraped by some auto drivers, the police today claimed to have arrested four of the six accused.

The police said six autorickshaw drivers had raped the victim in an open field near the RPS Public School located on the Masauri-Bypass Road, some 12km from the capital. She was first beaten up and then raped by the six men, the police said. The men then left her in the field thinking she was dead, the police added.The arrested accused have been identified as Ravindra Yadav, Santosh Kumar, Dinanath Sao and Madhu Kumar.. Senior police officers said two more accused and the boyfriend of the girl, by the name of Ravi, are still absconding.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar said the girl had fled from her home with Ravi and had boarded the Tata-Patna Express. “Both of them reached the state capital around 9pm on April 12. After alighting at the Patna Junction, they boarded an autorickshaw to go to Kadamkuan. While in the autorickshaw, the two had a fight after which Ravi suddenly got down and disappeared, leaving the girl alone. The autorickshaw driver, identified as Ravindra Yadav alias Gopeji had overheard their conversation and guessed the girl had run away from her home and was now alone,” the officer said. The girl was taken by Ravindra to the Agamkuan autorickshaw stand instead of Kadamkuan.

At the auto stand, Ravindra and five of his friends, all autorickshaw drivers first beat up the girl and then made her sit in another autorickshaw. “Then they drove towards the Masauri-Bypass Road where she was again beaten up by the six men. They then raped her one by one which resulted in the girl losing consciousness. The men thought the girl had died and fled the spot leaving the victim behind,” the officer added.

The officer said once the FIR was lodged the next morning at the Kotwali police station and a special team was formed under Patna City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande.

“The medical report of the girl is out and it confirms rape. The police had drawn up sketches of the accused on the descriptions given by the victim. Once this was done, the police started to investigate the matter and were successful in nabbing Ravindra Yadav and another accused by the name of Santosh Kumar. All the arrests were made in a matter of just 48 hours,” the SSP claimed.

What is shocking is that fact that the police office today in its official state gave away the real name of the victim, along with her address, despite clear directions against the same by the National Human Rights Commission.

The officer said that during the interrogation Yadav accepted to have committed the crime.

“Based on his information, the police arrested two other accused. They have been identified as Dinanath Sao and Madhu Kumar. All of them are residents of Patna. Two autorickshaws used in the crime have also been recovered from the men,” he said.

Meanwhile, the family of the girl is yet to come from Burnpur, the officer said.

“At this moment, the police are conducting raids in order to nab the remaining two accused as well as the boyfriend of the victim,” the SSP said.