A 16-year-old boy from Mumbai’s Andheri suburb has complained that 15 boys aged between 15 and 17 raped him for a year, The Indian Express reported on Thursday. The boy complained to the police on Monday stating that he finally confided about the assaults to a friend after he felt “unbearable pain” following the last assault two weeks ago.

The Mumbai police have booked all 15 accused and detained seven of them at the Dongri correctional home. The police said a medical examination confirmed that the boy was sexually assaulted. They said that the teenager was also blackmailed and physically assaulted.

The police said that a friend who lived next door first raped the boy in 2016. The alleged rapist shot a video of the incident and showed it to his other friends. “The victim was very scared and did not tell his family about the abuse,” said an unidentified officer.

The neighbour forced the teenager to have sex with other boys by threatening to make the video public, the officer said. “The accused took the victim to a playground outside a municipal school in the area and raped him one by one.”

One of the accused had demanded Rs 1,100 from the teenager to pay for restaurant food. However, when the complainant refused, they took him to an isolated area on June 26 and raped him once again, said the officer. After the last such incident two weeks ago, the boy confided in a 31-year-old man working as a construction site supervisor, who took him to the police.