Lover, friends gangrape nursing student in Varkala

Thiruvananthapuram: A 19-year-old nursing student was allegedly raped by her lover and his two friends on board an autorickshaw on Tuesday, police said.

The incident came to light after residents of Ayanthi near Varkala found the girl under suspicious circumstances in the autorickshaw parked in the neighbourhood. The auto driver, identified only as Shyju, fled on seeing the residents.

Varkala police sub-inspector K Shiji said the residents shifted the girl to a hospital. She was later brought to the medical college hospital here.

Police said the girl had gone with her lover Shyju to Kollam in his autorickshaw, and while returning, two of his friends boarded the vehicle in which she was raped. Police said a search was launched for the suspects.

The girl, a resident of the capital city, has been pursing BSc nursing in a college in Varkala.

The incident was reported even as the state has been witnessing widespread protests over the gruesome murder of a 29-year-old LLB student at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam.