The police reported on Friday that a minor was allegedly gang raped and thrown out of their car in South Tripura.

The crime happened on Wednesday at Tepania Eco Park, and the main suspect, a 21-year-old guy the girl befriended on Facebook, was apprehended at his home in Purba Gokulpur, according to the police.

The whereabouts of two further suspects remain unknown.

The “main accused literally forced the girl to meet him at Tepania eco park where he clicked some photographs of her despite her objection. When the girl realized she was being blackmailed, she tried to escape from the scene but could not,” the sub-divisional magistrate of Udaipur, Nirupam Dutta told the media.

He said the main accused took the 17-year-old inside a jungle and raped her. He was joined by his two other accomplices and the torture on the girl continued till the evening hours. “While returning home the three men threw the victim out of the car at Rajarbag area and fled away with in the vehicle.” The victim returned home and narrated her ordeal to her family. Subsequently a specific FIR was lodged at the R K Pur women police station on Thursday, he said.

The girl and the main accused had been friends on Facebook for the past six months and the man had concealed his identity to her, he said.

“Investigation into the case is on and efforts are on to arrest the two absconding accused,” Dutta said.

Chairperson of Tripura Commission for Women, Barnali Goswami condemned the incident.

“We are observing that minor girls are being trapped by a section of the youth through the social media platform. We have to make the school and college going girls aware about the ill-effects of friendship via the social media,” she said.

Also read: 26/11 Attack Accused Pakistani-Origin Canadian Tahawwur Rana Petitions US Court Against Extradition To India