The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Youth dies by suicide in Gorakhpur, day after alleging sodomy: Police

- MANISH SAHU

A DAY after he approached police accusing four persons of sodomising him and threatenin­g to circulate photograph­s of the act if he did not pay them money, the 23-year-old man belonging to the OBC community was found dead on the campus of a medical institute in Gorakhpur.

The youth’s body was found hanging from a tree on the campus Saturday, police said. They said they have arrested two of the four suspects against whom an FIR was lodged based on the youth's complaint.

Police suspect the youth died bysuicidef­earingpubl­icshaming.

The two arrested suspects were identified by police as Karan alias Ashutosh Mishra (26) and Devesh Rajnand (24), both unemployed.

They were produced before a local court in Gorakhpur, which sent them to judicial custody.

While Karan is native of Bihar but has been living in Gorakhpur for the past few years, Devesh is a local resident. The police recovered the victim’s cellphone from theirposse­ssion.gorakhpurc­ircle Officerkam­leshkumars­inghsaid raids were being conducted to trace the other two accused named in the FIR.

The victim, a graduate, was from Maharajgan­j and had been living with his elder brother, who works at the institute where his body was found.

He was unmarried and preparing for competitiv­e examinatio­ns.

According to the police, the youth in his complaint said that one of the suspects with whom he came in contact over social media asked him to meet him in a hotel room Thursday. After he reached the hotel, according to the complaint, the suspect called three of his friends to his room.

The four then assaulted the youth and sodomised him, the complaint said. The victim said the suspects also took photograph­s of the act and threatened to circulate them if he did not pay them money. They also took away his cellphone before allowing him to go, the complaint said.

After being released, the youth told his brother about the incident following which they approached the police to get the FIR lodged.

The next day, the police received informatio­n about the recovery of the youth's body. The post-mortem report stated that death occurred due to hanging.

According to sources, an FIR was lodged against the four suspects following directions of senior authoritie­s. The case was registered under IPC Sections 377 (unnatural sex offences), 384 (extortion), 379 (theft), 411 (receiving stolen property), 323 (voluntaril­y causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidati­on), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Gorakhpur Additional Superinten­dent of Police Jitendra Kumar Srivastava said that charges of abetment of suicide would be added.

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