Bhubaneswar, Oct. 23: Mahila police today detained three persons in connection with the gangrape of a minor girl at Baramunda bus stand on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old girl was waiting to board a bus to Bhanjanagar on Wednesday night when the men offered to help her. They allegedly took her to an abandoned house near the bus stand and drugged and raped her.

The girl said the men told her it was not safe for her to wait at the bus stand alone at night. “One of them offered to take me to his sister’s house. When I agreed, they took me to an abandoned house, drugged and raped me,” said the girl.

The girl was found sitting alone at the bus stand with Rs 50 on her.

Noticing her, local residents took her to a short-stay home in Janla. The matter became public after the victim narrated the incident to the counsellor of the short-stay home, who informed the police on Friday.

The Baramunda bus stand has turned into a den of criminals.

In the past six months, at least 15 cases of passengers being robbed after being drugged have been reported from the area. Crimes such as snatching and lifting of luggage are also on the rise.

Even the crew of buses and vendors operating at the bus stand have allegedly been facing harassment at the hands of criminals.

A local vendor said around 50 hawkers, mostly from the Baramunda village, had been terrorising the bus staff and small-time business establishments.

Even the driver of a Rourkela-bound private bus said criminals had always been harassing them.

“They extort money from us. They take Rs 200 to Rs 300 from each bus on a daily basis by terrorising the staff,” said the driver.

At present, around 750 private and 50 government buses come daily to the bus stand. These goons run their business by extorting money from them. The local residents even alleged that there had been at least 10 illegal liquor shops and some pan shops, which sell liquor in pouches at side the bus stand. The bus owners claim these goons have been running their illegal business in collusion with the local police.

Though there is a police outpost inside the bus stand having around six staff members, these personnel are deployed for Police Control Room van patrolling.

President of All-Orissa Private Bus Owners Association, Debabrata Pattnaik, said they had brought the problems of the bus stand to the authorities, but no steps had been taken. “Security at the bus stand must be increased and the goons should be driven out,” said Pattnaik.

Following the incident, the city police have started a drive to crack down on the erring autorickshaw drivers who have been suspected of drugging passengers and looting them near the bus stand. The police also have cracked the whip on goons at the bus stand. A senior police officer said such drives would be continued to make the bus stand area free of such goons.