AP: Channel stringers charged with rape

The Ranga Reddy district police has arrested two stringers of Telugu news channels on charges of raping and robbing two women in Viqarabad town.

The alleged offenders are identified as 40-year-old Srinivas and 30-year-old Uday Kumar.
 
Viqarabad police inspector T Penchalaiah said that the duo, apart from targeting the women, also assaulted their cousin M Venkat Kondaiah and robbed him of Rs1500.
 
The incident occurred when the two women- one 41-year-old and another 27-year-old were on the way from Hyderabad to Tandur town. As they could not get a direct bus to Tandur, they boarded the bus to Viqarabad and requested their relative Kondaiah to pick them up from Viqarabad bus stand. When Kondaiah was taking them on his motor-cycle to Tandur, then stringers chased them. When they stopped near Anantagiri Hills for dinner, the stringers equipped with the video camera, started harassing them, seeking  their details.
 
Women told the police that they video-graphed them and threatened to hand them over to police if they don't reveal their details. When they refused to do so, the duo attacked Kondaiah and forced the women to go with them to another place where they were raped. They also snatched their money and cell phones.
 
While the stringers were fleeing the place, they came across a police patrol party. On questioning by the police, they said that they were returning from their work. But on the complaint of the women, the police took them in to custody.
 
The police are looking out for another accomplice of the duo.