THRISSUR: A 17-year-old boy was brutally tortured by a gang to lodge a fake sexual assault complaint against a strange woman. It was Varandarappilly native Niranjan, who was beaten up by a gang of goons. Niranjan said that the gang tortured him for around 12 hours.

The 17-year-old reached the gang through friends. Later, the gang showed the boy the picture of a woman and asked him to lodge a fake complaint against her. According to Niranjan, the gang chose him as all his friends reached the age of 18. He said that the gang forcibly gave him drugs and hit his head with a beer bottle.

According to the boy, the torture, which began at 8 am on Sunday, lasted till 8 pm. "They dialed the toll-free number of the ChildLine and forcibly made me lodge the complaint. They did this by threatening to hit my head with a beer bottle. They also threatened to kill me and my mother if told this to anyone else," he said.