A taxi driver reportedly raped a teenage girl from Kolkata in Sikkim, The Telegraph said. The girl was on vacation with two friends after clearing the Indian School Certification examination. The incident took place while the girls, all aged 18, were sight seeing around state capital Gangtok in a local cab they had hired to take them to the tourist spots. They were accompanied one of the girls' parents on the trip. However, they had decided to stay back on the day the girl was raped. Police said a medical report confirmed the rape.

According to police, the cab driver, Prem Rai, offered to show the girls places beyond their package for free, but the girls declined his offer. Rai then started abusing the girls and pushed two of them sitting in the rear seat out of the car, and drove away with the third girl sitting next to him in the front seat.

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Police said he drove her to a deserted forested area and raped her. The two other girls walked several kilometres before they found help. The locals got in touch with the parents and police and the car was found after a search by local police and villagers. The girl and Rai were both found in the car. "The medical report has confirmed rape," said Tom Tshering Lepcha, the station house officer at Phodong outpost, where the girls were thrown out of the car.

According to him, 22-year-old Rai, who had been drinking alcohol, offered the victim a spiked drink. He has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code. "The driver will be produced in the North Sikkim district court at Mangan on Tuesday. We will seek five days' police remand. An investigation is on. The girl and the others are in their hotel in Gangtok," said Palden Bhutia, the subdivisional police officer of Mangan, North Sikkim. The incident has been strongly condemned by the Travel Agents' Association of Sikkim.