The Chhattisgarh Police on Tuesday arrested four suspects, including a minor, for allegedly raping and poisoning a 19-year-old woman in Janjgir-Champa district two weeks ago. The woman is in a critical condition, PTI reported.

Station House Officer of Sheorinarayan Police Station Prashant Mishra said the incident took place on March 7 in Kharaud village, but the accused were arrested only after the woman’s parents filed a complaint on Tuesday. Her parents, however, claimed they had complained on March 14, but the police did not act until the State Commission for Women intervened.

One of the accused, 24-year-old Sagar Yadav, who was known to the woman, purportedly called the Class 12 student out of her house and claimed that her friend was waiting for her somewhere. On the pretext of dropping her there, Yadav and another accused, 28-year-old Lav Nonia, took her to a secluded place behind a temple, where the other accused – 26-year-old Kushkumar Nonia and a 16-year-old boy – “took turns to rape her”, the police officer said.

“They then poisoned her and fled the spot,” Mishra said. “The girl somehow managed to reach her home and narrated the ordeal to her parents before losing consciousness.”

The 19-year-old being treated at a hospital in Bilaspur, Mishra said, adding that the police have registered a case of rape and attempt to murder against the accused.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that the Chhattisgarh Police have arrested seven men for allegedly confining and raping two teenage girls over two weeks and were on the lookout for two other accused. The two girls, 17 and 15 years old, were rescued on Tuesday from a house near the Bijuri Railway Station in Madhya Pradesh, the police said.