1 arrested, hunt on for other five accused

The victim has also identified the other five accused as well as the Maruti 800 car (HR-01-S-8489), in which she was dropped at Sector 20, Chandigarh, on Sunday afternoon. Pankaj is reportedly one of the two accused who escorted her back.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Madhur Verma said the victim had come out to the hotel’s parking lot to smoke when she was approached by one of the accused. He asked her to help him out in parking the black Scorpio properly. She accepted the request and sat in the driving seat.

“Before she knew it, five youths sat in the car and asked her to take the vehicle out of the exit and enter the parking lot from the other side. The girl agreed and drove out of the hotel, taking a left turn towards Matka Chowk. The accused then asked her to turn the vehicle towards the Sector 9-10 dividing road. When the girl protested, the accused overpowered her and pushed her to the rear seat. Then they drove away,” said Verma addressing a press meet.

This was also confirmed by the hotel’s CCTV footage.

“The footage shows the girl going out of the hotel on her own,” said general manager of Hotel Taj GVK, Anil Malhotra.

During investigation, the police also found that reported registration number of the black Mahindra Scorpio was allotted to an auto-rickshaw.

“After collecting information from various quarters, including the Taj’s security guards, guests and the victim, we have dispatched our teams to Panipat, Yamunanagar and Ambala. In Ambala, our team managed to intercept a Maruti 800, which matched the suspected car’s description. The victim has identified the vehicle,” said a senior police officer.

Sources said the Maruti car was registered in the name of one Sube Singh, who told the police that Pankaj had borrowed the vehicle from him on Sunday afternoon around 12.30 pm and returned around 4 pm.

A senior police officer said they had the names and addresses of all the accused and will arrest them soon.

Ques:Who are accused?

All the accused are in their early 20s and come from villages in Haryana and Punjab. Sources said the youth had come to Chandigarh for drinks and went to the Taj to merely hang around.

During preliminary interrogation, Pankaj told the police the names and addresses of all the accused, out of whom one is reportedly the son of a police officer and another is the son of a Zila Parishad president in Haryana.