3 held over gang-rape

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Indian police have arrested three suspects over the alleged gang-rape of a student by a group of men, some of whom had been charged with a previous attack on her, an officer said Wednesday. The 21-year-old, who belongs to the lowest Dalit caste, has told police she was abducted near her college in the north Indian state of Haryana last week by the five men, who then drugged and raped her.

According to relatives quoted in Indian media, she identified all five as the men who had raped her before, in 2013. Two men were charged over that attack, but were released on bail while awaiting trial. “We arrested three of them yesterday,” Pushpa Khatri, a police officer involved in the investigation, told AFP without giving further details.

A local court sent the three accused to police custody until Sunday, after a prosecutor asked for them to be remanded for further questioning, an officer present at the hearing said. It was unclear whether the two men already facing charges were among those arrested. Police said they were still looking for two other suspects in the latest case.

The woman was found unconscious in bushes on the side of a highway last Wednesday night. Her family has said the five men had issued threats before the latest attack, demanding that they withdraw the case lodged after the 2013 assault. (AFP)

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