Bhubaneswar-Cuttack police commissionerate have arrested six people for their alleged involvement in the gang-rape of a college girl by blackmailing her with obscene videos.

The boyfriend of the girl was among those detained by the police.

The police have also urged girls not to succumb to the black-mailing tactics.

The victim, a 19-year-old girl, was subjected to physical torture for 15 days by his boyfriend and others. Seeing the girl in a depressed mood for over the last fortnight, the family members kept a vigil on her movement. They found her with one of the accused. When they started questioning her, she split the beans. Later, the family members reported the matter to the police.

According to the police, the boyfriend of the girl took her to a secluded place during the Durga Puja holiday on the pretext of celebrating her birthday. There he had forced her to have physical relations with her. The entire incident was videographed by others.

Later, they started black-mailing the girl and threatened to expose her and make the video viral. Even they took the girl to different locations and continued to gang-rape her by threatening to make it viral.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Jagmohan Meena told the reporters: “A case has already been registered on November 4. We have arrested six people in this connection. They were threatening the girl with an obscene video. While four of them had sexually assaulted her, the other two are accused of threatening her and abetment. While three people were arrested on November 5, the others were arrested the next day.”

Meena said: “We appeal to people not to succumb to the blackmailing tactics and report the crime to the police.”

Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan assured the accused of strict punishment on this issue. “We have zero tolerance towards any crime. Strict punishment will be given to those accused in the gangrape case. We are considering to bring an amendment to the law that will be made to increase prosecution and conviction rate in women-related crime,” the law minister said.