Two young Indian Army officers were beaten and one of their two women friends was allegedly raped by unidentified men when the four were out on a picnic in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported on Thursday.

Badgonda police station in-charge Lokendra Singh Hirore said the officers, aged 23 and 24, who were undergoing Young Officers (YO) course at the Infantry School in Mhow cantonment town, had gone out for a picnic on Tuesday along with their two female friends.

Around 2am on Wednesday, a group of 6-7 people arrived near the picnic spot on Mhow-Mandleshwar road and started beating up one of the officers and a female friend, who were sitting in the car, reported PTI.

Upon hearing the commotion, the other officer and the woman, who were on a hilltop, reached the spot.

According to The Times of India, which cited the complaint filed by one of the officers, the attackers held the pair they had attacked in the car hostage at gunpoint.

They also asked the other officer to bring one million rupees in ransom. Subsequently, the officer managed to use this opportunity to inform his seniors in Mhow who, in turn, alerted the police. A police team was dispatched to the area, but by then, the attackers had escaped the area.

The army officers and their female friends were brought to Mhow civil hospital, where a medical examination confirmed that one of the women was raped.

The Times of India reported that a case has been registered under sections 70 (gangrape), 310-2 (dacoity), 308-2 (extortion) and 115-2 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and under sections of the Arms Act based on the complaint filed by the officer.

Additional superintendent of police Rupesh Dwivedi told the newspaper that six suspects have been identified so far. Of them, two have been detained.

Indore Rural SP Hitika Vasal told The Indian Express that one of those detained has a case of loot registered against him in 2016.

“We arrested two men. One of them has a case of loot registered against him in 2016. This was not an organised gang. They saw these young people who had gathered at a night spot and decided to attack them. One person also had a pistol on him,” Vasal said.