The police have arrested three men and are looking for two others (Representational)
Three men have been arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting two Bangladeshi men from the LGBTQ community in Delhi. The two men met the accused on a dating app for gay men, they said.
The two men, A and B (names withheld to protect their identities), have been living together in Delhi for some time now. 22-year-old A is from Bangladesh, while 27-year-old B is from Bihar, the police said.
A, who is studying in Delhi, met another man, X, through a dating app for gay men a few days back and the two became close.
Meanwhile, C, a friend of A, came from Bangladesh and moved in with him and B. He too identifies as a gay man.
On October 17, A and C went to the Ramlila fair in east Delhi's Shakarpur area. While on their way back around 11:30 pm, the two met with X and two other men.
When X wanted to get intimate with A, he refused and told him about his friend C, following which the five men went to a park.
In the park, X and C went to a deserted place and in the meantime, two more friends of X came to the park.
A while later, X and his four friends allegedly assaulted and raped A and C, the police said.
After reaching home, A and C narrated the whole incident to their roommate, B, who informed the police.
A case has been filed under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code for "voluntarily causing hurt", "voluntarily having carnal intercourse against the order of nature", and "common intent".
The police formed a team of 20 officers and scoured through footage from at least 50 CCTV cameras installed in the neighbourhood. They also questioned several people from the area who belong to the LGBTQ community and arrested the three accused. The hunt for the two others is on, the police said.
The arrested accused have been identified as 20-year-old Devashish Verma, 21-year-old Surjit, and 20-year-old Aryan, they said.