New Delhi, Oct 19 (PTI) Two Bangladeshi nationals were allegedly sodomised and assaulted by five men in east Delhi's Shakarpur area, police said on Thursday.

The two victims belong to the LGBTIQA+ community, they said, adding four accused, including a juvenile, have been apprehended.

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The incident took place on the intervening night of October 17 and 18 when the two Bangladeshi nationals, one a student of Delhi University and another who recently came to Delhi, had gone to see Ramlila in Shakarpur, they said.

While returning, the DU student met Abhishek whom he befriended through a dating app for homosexuals, a few days ago. Abhishek was accompanied by two of his friends, police said.

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Abhishek made an offer to engage in a physical relationship before the victims, which the student denied but his friend agreed to, they said.

“Then all five went to a park, where two more friends of Abhishek joined them. The other two friends of Abhishek also started insisting on getting physical with the Bangladeshi national," a police officer said.

"When both the victims refused, Abhishek and his four friends beat them up and sodomised them," the officer added. The two victims went back to their home and informed their friend about the assault.

A PCR call was received about the incident at 1 am on October 18 and subsequently, an FIR under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC was also registered, they said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Achin Garg said, "Seeing the sensitivity of the matter as two foreign nationals were the victims in the case, a strong team of 20 police personnel was constituted, which started their work from the night itself."

At least 50 CCTV cameras in nearby areas were scanned and human intelligence was developed about the presence of LGBTIQA+ community members in the area.

"Within 12 hours, our team managed to crack the case and nabbed three of the accused Devashish Verma (20), Surjeet (21), and Aryan alias Golu (20). A juvenile was also apprehended," Garg added.

The teams were working to arrest Abhishek, police said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)