Express News Service By

BENGALURU: Three days after the reporting of the gang-rape of a call centre employee in a moving vehicle, reports of two male employees of a BPO firm and their driver being allegedly stripped and sexually assaulted came to light on Wednesday.

According to police, the incident took place in the wee hours of September 30 when the BPO employees were on their way to work in a Tempo Traveller that was involved in a minor accident with a car.

An altercation between the driver of the Tempo Traveller and the car driver turned violent and led to alleged sexual assault of the BPO employees when they came to the aid of their driver.

On Wednesday, Mico Layout police arrested three persons, including the car driver and seized the vehicle. The accused, Kiran, Satish and Satish Kumar, are all residents of the city and are aged between 20 and 25 years. The victims are also residents of Bengaluru.

On September 30, around 3.30 am, the Tempo Traveller attached to a BPO, picked up the two employees from BTM Layout. While they were heading towards the office, their van was involved in a minor accident with a car. This led to an altercation between the Tempo Traveller driver and two occupants of the car.

While the accused Kiran and Satish picked up a quarrel with the driver, the BPO employees tried to intervene and defuse the situation. The accused demanded money for the damage caused to their vehicle. When the Tempo Traveller driver refused to pay up, the accused started to assault him. When the BPO employees came to his rescue, they too were also assaulted by the duo who got into the van and forced the driver to drive to Ragigudda in JP Nagar.

After reaching an isolated spot, the accused assaulted them again and robbed them after threatening to kill them. The accused took away Rs 600, mobile phones and ATM cards from the BPO employees and the driver.

After allegedly stripping them and sexually assaulting them, the accused called their friend Satish Kumar, who drove away with them. The victims lodged a complaint with the Mico Layout police.

The sexual assault came to light only after the police questioned the accused since the victims had initially not mentioned it in their complaint fearing social stigma. However, they later confirmed this to the police. Investigations are continuing.