21-year-old woman gang-raped, her male friend assaulted on outskirts of Pune city

Pune: A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three unidentified persons, who also tied her male friend to a tree and assaulted him at an isolated place on the outskirts of Pune city, police said on Friday.

The horrific incident took place in the Bopdev Ghar area at around 11 pm on Thursday and a day later police released sketches of two of the suspects as they intensified efforts to trace the culprits and sought help of citizens to nab them.

According to the Kondhwa police, under whose jurisdiction the crime occurred, the woman had gone to the locality with a male friend.

"As per preliminary details, the woman and her male friend had gone to the Bopdev Ghar area on late Thursday night where three unidentified persons allegedly raped her," said Ranjan Kumar Sharma, additional commissioner of police.

He said the trio first tied the woman's male friend to a tree at the crime scene and then took turns to rape her.

The police came to know about the incident at around 5 am on Friday after the woman along with her male friend approached Maharashtra government-run Sassoon General Hospital in Pune city, said Sharma.

Ten police teams have been formed to trace the accused, he informed.

Another official from the Kondhwa police station said the incident took place at an isolated place and the trio also assaulted the woman's male friend.

Meanwhile, the police sent a forensic team to the crime spot and deployed a dog squad as part of investigation to gather clues and trace the accused.

"We have prepared sketches of two of the suspects on the basis of description given by the male friend of the woman," said the official.

The police have provided three mobile phone numbers -- 8691999689, 8275200947, 9307545045 -- and appealed to citizens to contact them if they come across any information about the case.