Bar dancer from Navi Mumbai raped in Bangalore

A 25-year-old woman from Navi Mumbai was allegedly abducted, raped and mugged by a gang of three men on Wednesday night in Chickpet, Bangalore.

Two of the accused picked up the victim, Meera (name changed) - a resident of Nerul, from a bus station. They allegedly took her to an under-construction building in Tilaknagar, where a third man raped her. Her valuables were also stolen.

As per the complaint lodged with the cops, Meera, who worked at a bar in Mumbai, came to Bangalore looking for a job. She reached Majestic bus station around 9.15 pm on Wednesday. She was met by two men, who took her to Vijaya Palace lodge in Chickpet.

“She was to meet her customers at the lodge. But before they arrived, her escorts abducted her and took her to an under-construction building near Amravathi Hotel in Tilaknagar. She was taken up to the second floor, where  she was raped by a man named Vijay, with the other two assisting him,” said N Srinidhi, inspector, Chickpet police.

The accused - Vijay, 28, an auto rickshaw driver; Louis, 18, a plumber and Stalin, 23,  were arrested on Thursday morning from Tilaknagar. “A witness saw Stalin running away from the spot and alerted the police. He was arrested and during interrogation, he told us about Vijay and Louis,” said B Shivakumar, DCP (West).

Meera, a native of Kolkata, is a mother of two children - one eight-year-old and the other aged six. She is separated from her husband. “My husband deserted us as he could not support the family. I took to dancing at bars to provide food and education to my kids. But just a month after I joined the trade, dance bars were banned in Mumbai,” she said.

Chickpet police claimed that Meera was a call girl and had come to Bangalore to attend her customers. However, they have charged the three accused with with rape as they were not her customers. Police were checking if she was a frequent visitor to Bangalore and had any agent in the city.