Three raped after being made to drink drugged fruit juice in

Three women members of a family were allegedly raped by a man who forced them to drink drug-laced fruit juice before committing the crime in Assam's Hojai district, police said on Monday.

The man was known to them as he lived in the same village as them and the incident took place on the intervening night between Saturday and Sunday at their home in Uttar Dimarupar village, the victims said in their complaint to the police.

The complaint said the man had brought sugarcane juice to their residence on Saturday morning and had requested them to store it in their refrigerator.

The woman's husband works in Saudi Arabia and the two girls are her relatives.

The complaint said the man had returned that night and forced the woman and the two girls to have the juice after which they fell unconscious.

The woman was raped first and when she regained consiousness she saw the man committing the crime on the two girls. When she tried to stop him, the man had allegedly threatened to kill her with a knife, it said.

They filed their complaint with the police with the help of villagers and an investigation has been initiated into the incident.

The man, who has another rape case against him, is absconding, the police said.

Meanwhile, the police have apprehended six persons who were allegedly involved in the gang-rape of a woman near Amoni in Nagaon district on August 28 night.

The police have arrested the person on whose motorcycle the woman was travelling when they were waylaid by four persons and following his interrogation apprehended five others who were allegedly involved in the crime.

Search is on for another culprit, the police said adding the vehicle used by them was also found.

The woman in her complaint to the police had claimed she was allegedly whisked away by four men in their vehicle, gang-raped and left on NH 37.

An oil tanker driver had found her and took her to the nearby Jakhalabandha police station in the district.