Forced kiss, ‘pill’, no CCTV: 6 chilling details in Bengaluru rape case

After allegedly raping his senior in a private Bengaluru college, a 22-year-old engineering student was taken into custody and placed under judicial remand. According to HT’s earlier report, the complainant claimed that the accused, Jeevan Gowda, had raped the survivor after dragging her to the men’s restroom after attempting to kiss her against her will during lunch.

A case has been filed by police under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 64 (rape). The accused, Jeevan Gowda, and the survivor, a seventh-semester student, were friends and attended the same private engineering college in Bengaluru, according to an officer with knowledge of the incident. “Though Jeevan was a year behind due to academic backlogs,” he stated.

Under the guise of wishing to talk to the survivor, the accused, a fifth-semester student, enticed her during lunch. He allegedly tried to kiss her after calling her to the seventh floor, which is close to the architectural block.

He followed the survivor and “forcibly dragged her to the men’s toilet on the sixth floor and raped her” when she struggled and attempted to escape the floor in a lift, according to an officer. When her phone rang during the assault, the accused reportedly took it away. According to news agency ANI, accused Jeevan Gowda allegedly called the survivor after the event to inquire if she needed a medication. But she hung up the phone.

Even though the assault happened on October 10, according to police, it wasn’t reported until five days later, when the survivor told her parents about it. She was apparently too traumatized at first to approach the authorities. She told her friends about it, though, and they advised her to tell her parents. On October 15, the schoolgirl, accompanied by her parents, lodged a complaint at the Hanumanthanagar police station.

Authorities have started forensic tests as part of their investigation into the attack after the complaint was made. However, the lack of CCTV cameras on the floor where the incident occurred presents a challenge for the investigation.