Five women working with a NGO were allegedly raped at gunpoint by a group of at least five men when they had gone to Chochang village in Jharkhand to create awareness on migration and human trafficking, the police said on 22 June.

Initial investigation has found that the people behind ‘Pathalgarhi’ (a practice in which villagers inscribe various tenets on huge stone slabs and ban outsiders in their area), are behind the incident in Khunti district on Tuesday, Deputy Inspector General of Police Amol V Homker said, reports the Press Trust of India.

According to SP Ashwini Kumar Sinha, a 11-member team of an NGO went to the village to perform a street play on migration and human trafficking.

A group of men arrived on the scene and took them to a nearby forest at gunpoint where the crime was perpetuated, police said.

The police have identified the culprits and eight people were detained in this connection, he said.

An FIR has been filed and three teams have been formed to investigate the matter and arrest the culprits, he said.

The police officer said the victims did not inform the administration about the incident. They got the information from sources and identified the culprits.

Medical examination of the women has been completed, he said.