Indian policemen arrested for rape of Mumbai model

Indian authorities have arrested three Mumbai policemen who allegedly raped a model at a police station in the latest in a series of sex attacks that have horrified the country.

Another four people have been held in connection with the case which has heighten sensitivity over the safety of women in India because of the alleged perpetrators being law enforcers. The group is facing a series of charges including kidnapping, extortion and rape.

The 29-year-old victim told detectives she had gone to a five-star hotel in the buzzing megalopolis that is home to Bollywood for a movie audition earlier in April, local media reported.

There, a movie agent asked her to follow him up to a room to meet the production team, but she felt threatened and left, according to Mid-Day newspaper.

At the exit of the building in the northern Sakinaka district, near Mumbai's international airport, she was met by three plain-clothed policemen claiming to be investigating a prostitution ring at the hotel.

The officers, identified only as assistant police inspectors Khatape, Suryavanshi and a police constable Kode, threatened her with arrest and demanded she went to a nearby police station, where she was held overnight and allegedly sexually abused.

After the alleged rape they reportedly demanded she paid them 500,000 Indian Rupees (£5,200, $7,860) to be let go. The woman was allowed to call her boyfriend who brought in part of the money. The officers reportedly took the victim's jewellery to make up for the difference and finally set her free.

Fearing further violence the couple left Mumbai for a few days and then returned to file a complaint, contacting directly the city's police commissioner Rakesh Maria.

"We want to send a strong message to the force that such black sheep will not be tolerated in the force," Maria told the Times of India after the arrests.

Violence against women in India has been the focus of international attention since the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student on a Delhi bus in December 2012.

The crime sparked massive protests that resulted in the government signing more stringent anti-rape laws.