The Odisha Police arrested four people, including three students, in Sundargarh district for allegedly raping a woman who was returning home after college, News18 reported on Tuesday. The police are searching for the fifth accused in the case.

The incident took place on June 26 and came to light after the girl filed a complaint at the Model police station in Sundargarh on Monday evening.

“Although the incident took place on June 26, the girl had kept it concealed as the accused youth had threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed it,” Sundargarh Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra told News18. “She named the five youths in her complaint. Four of them have been nabbed and sent to jail. A hunt is on for the fifth.”

The girl is a first-year student of Bachelor of Arts and hails from a tribal community in Malidih village. Her mother informed the police that she had stopped attending college after the incident.

“Initially, when her mother and other relatives asked her the reason for not attending the college, she gave no answer,” Police Inspector Ramakanta Sai said. “But finally she told them about the incident, they persuaded her to lodge a complaint.”

The complaint by the girl states that two of her classmates, identified as Nalindra Oram and Jaydeb Kisan, had offered to drop her back home on their bikes. A third classmate, Ranjit Oram,
also joined in and while on their way, they stopped and dragged her into the Putudihi jungle. Two other friends of a classmate then arrived and and all of them raped her, she said.

The police arrested three of her classmates and the fourth accused, Kishore Oram, while the fifth person managed to escape. The bike used by the accused has also been seized.

The girl and the four accused were made to undergo a medical examination at Bhawani Shankar Hospital in Sundargarh town.

On Monday, Minister of State for Home Dibya Sankar Mishra told the Odisha Assembly that 17,528 cases of rape were reported in Odisha in the last 10 years. He said that 937 rape cases have been registered till May this year. The Odisha Assembly also witnessed protests by both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress over rising crimes in the state.