Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: A young model was waiting with her two male friends near Baramunda last night for a cab to take her home in Patia. Little did they know that a two hour-long nightmare was in store for them.

At 11.30pm, three inebriated men approached them in a vehicle and forced the three into the car claiming to be cops.

What followed was an unimaginable ordeal as the men molested the young woman and threatened to kill the three horrified youngsters while driving the vehicle around the city. The ordeal lasted for two hours as police finally rescued the youngsters.

Three persons have been arrested for kidnapping the three youths, including the 21-year-old woman. The accused also demanded Rs 10,000 from the woman and threatened to rape her if she failed to give them the money.

"Three persons in a Bolero approached us and asked us to sit in their vehicle. They claimed to be police personnel of Khandagiri police station. When we objected, they assaulted us and forced us to get into the them," said the girl in the complaint she lodged with the police.

The girl works with a studio in Baramunda, which organises photo shoots.

"They forced two of us to sit in the backseat and asked the girl to share the front seat with another accused, who molested her. They later took us towards CRP Square and demanded money. They took away Rs 200 from us and even our cell phones. The accused drove the vehicle through different areas of the city," said one of the victims.

However, one of the male friends of the victim managed to grab his cell phone and call one of the employees of the studio and put the phone on the seat of the car. "All of the assailants were heavily drunk and did not notice when I made the call. I gave my office colleague details of our location while talking to the accused. They threatened to kill us and take the girl towards Khurda," said the youth.

Later, the employee of the studio alerted the police control room, which alerted the Khandagiri police station.

"Four vans of cops were pressed into action to rescue the girl and her friends. Our vehicle managed to intercept the Bolero near the Baramunda flyover around 1.30am and nab the driver, but the other two fled from the spot. Our team continued raids at night and arrested them," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

The accused have been identified as Sisir Kumar Nayak, 24, the driver of the vehicle, Bikash Kumar Behera, 24, and Bankanidhi Sabu, 27. Police said Nayak was working as a driver with a private construction company in Patia, while the other two are autorickshaw operators. The police said the antecedents of the accused were being verified.