CHENNAI (INDIA)
The Huffington Post
July 18, 2018
By Alanna Vagianos
Accused assailants include an elevator operator, gardener and security guards at her family’s apartment complex.
A young girl with a hearing disability was drugged and gang-raped by at least 22 men repeatedly over a seven-month period at the apartment complex where her family lives in Chennai, India, her mother told police.
Police quickly rounded up 18 of the 22 men, including an elevator operator, gardener, housekeeper, electrician, security guards and plumbers in and around the apartment complex where the girl’s family lives in Purasawalkam, according to the Times Of India. The men range in age from early 20s to late 60s, according to the Economic Times. Officers reportedly are looking for four other suspects.
There are conflicting reports about the girl’s age. Times of India reported the victim is 12, while other outlets gave her age as 11. She was examined and treated Sunday at a hospital, which determined she had been raped by multiple men, according to the paper.
The girl told police that an elevator operator named Ravi Kumar, 66, first sexually assaulted her when she arrived home from school before she entered her family’s apartment. She said Kumar raped her in a vacant apartment. A few days later, he invited two other men to rape her, she said.
Police said the three men videotaped the second assault and threatened to release it if the girl talked about the attacks.
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