In a shocking case of exploitation, a 20-year-old college student from Banaskantha district in Gujarat was repeatedly gang-raped by seven individuals over a period of nearly 16 months. The ordeal began when one of the accused, Vishal, befriended the victim on Instagram after she started attending college in Palanpur in 2023.

In November that year, he tricked her into accompanying him to a hotel for breakfast, where he deliberately spilled food on her clothes and took her to a washroom under the pretext of helping her clean up. There, he secretly recorded a video of her while she was changing, which he later used to blackmail her by threatening to post it on Instagram.

The accused shared the video with his friends, who continued to blackmail and sexually assault the student at various locations over the next two years. The victim eventually approached the police, leading to the registration of a case against six identified individuals and an unknown person under sections related to repeated rape and criminal intimidation.

The accused are also facing charges under the Information Technology Act for transmitting obscene material. Police have conducted a medical examination and formed teams to apprehend the accused.