A teenage girl was allegedly lured into a trap with the promise of a role in a movie and invited to a studio in the city where her nude photographs were clicked, police said.
The perpetrators then allegedly blackmailed the girl and forced her to visit the studio again where she was allegedly raped. She narrated her ordeal to her parents, who lodged a complaint with police.
The prime suspect has been arrested, the police said. The co-accused is at large.
According to the complaint, a man named Subhajit Chowdhury called the girl’s mother offering a role for her minor daughter in a movie being shot at a studio, the police said.
“The girl’s father dropped her to the studio. According to the complaint, Chowdhury and his associate, named Bhaskar, clicked nude photographs of the girl and threatened her to not share the incident with anyone,” said joint commissioner (crime) Sankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
Chowdhury allegedly contacted the girl again and blackmailed her with the threat that her photographs would be circulated if she did not visit the studio again.
The police said the girl went to the studio again and was allegedly raped there.
Based on the complaint, the police arrested Chowdhury on Monday. He has been charged under sections of rape, outrage of modesty, voyeurism, disrobing a woman, criminal conspiracy and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He was produced at Alipore court on Monday and sent to police remand till May 15.
A search is on for the co-accused, Bhaskar, the police said. “It is advisable for parents not to leave their minor wards in unknown locations, especially with strangers. Parents should accompany their children to any place that is new,” a senior officer said.