One more held in Sriganganagar hotel gang rape case; arrests rise to 19

tnnJaisalmer: Police arrested another suspect in the infamous Sriganganagar hotel sex trade case involving the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl, bringing the total number of arrests to 19, Tuesday.

Police are currently searching for three to four more individuals, including a hotel manager and his customers who raped the minor.Deputy SP (Women Atrocities and Investigation) Kailashdan Detha confirmed that 20-year-old Prakash Nayak was taken into custody in the afternoon. Nayak allegedly visited Joy Inn Hotel at Housing Board Crossing on Sukhadia Nagar Road as a customer and committed the rape. According to police, Nayak went missing from his home after law enforcement began its pursuit but was apprehended without a warrant and is scheduled to be presented in court Wednesday.Authorities noted that the owners of Hotel Joy Inn and Sapphire Inn, where the minor girl was raped, have not complied with requests for documentation related to hotel operations, despite serving notices. In contrast, Mangatram Khungar, the owner of Dream Hotel near Birbal Chowk, responded to investigators Monday, providing a rental agreement indicating that the hotel was leased to Sudhir Sharma, who is among the arrested men.

Investigation sources indicated that of the 19 arrests made, 12 to 13 individuals allegedly raped the girl after posing as customers, including a man whom she met on Instagram.In a separate development, police registered an FIR at the Cyber Police Station concerning the circulation of two fake videos falsely alleging to depict the rape survivor from the Sriganganagar case. Both videos, which went viral on social media last Friday, have been determined to be unrelated to the Sriganganagar incident, instead linked to a different case in Uttar Pradesh.

One of the videos revealed the uploader’s mobile number, leading police to Anandpur Sahib, and that video has since been blocked.Sriganganagar SP Harishankar said that the FIR was based on a complaint from ASI Gurtej Singh. Authorities have issued a notice to a resident from Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib, requesting his response within five days. Police are now working to identify the individual behind the second video and those who shared both clips through various social media channels.