Santanu Rout (face covered) arrested for blackmailing and raping a minor girl in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 24: A youth was arrested from Puri for raping a minor girl, who came in contact with him through his girlfriend who had befriended her through Facebook four months ago. The girlfriend has also been arrested.

Police said the victim, a Class IX student in Puri, became close to the accused Santanu Rout, 20, through Rout’s girlfriend Archana Behera, an engineering student in Bhubaneswar.

“Archana had befriended the victim through Facebook and subsequently Santanu also became a friend with the victim through the social networking site,” said a police official.

Both Santanu and Archana became friendly with the victim through frequent chats on Facebook and during this time they also exchanged phone numbers.

Santanu, an ITI pass out, is employed with a private company in Bhubaneswar.

Both Santanu and Archana reached the victim’s house in Puri yesterday and asked her grandmother’s permission to take the girl with them on the pretext of celebrating the birthday of the engineering student.

“They then took her to a lodge in Puri and forced her to consume alcohol. Later, Santanu raped her in the room of the lodge,” said a police official in Puri.

After the victim did not return home at night, her grandmother called her on her cell phone, which went unanswered. The victim’s mother also rang up Archana, who said that her daughter would return home the next day.

The victim’s grandmother later lodged a complaint with Puri Town police station.

The police after tracking the mobile phones of the victim and Archana’s raided the lodge and rescued the girl. Archana was hiding in the toilet of the room when the police nabbed her.

“Santanu was arrested under several sections of Indian Penal Code on charges of rape and Archana was also arrested for assisting him in the crime,” said inspector in-charge of Puri Town police station, Jadunath Jena.