Haryana gangrape: Raids under way to nab accused

Chandigarh: Police conducted several raids on Sunday to nab three accused, including an Indian Army official, in the gang-rape of a young woman in the northern state of Haryana.

The police were searching in Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and some other states, a senior official, who is part of the investigation, said on Sunday.

“Multiple teams are [on the] job to nab them. We are hopeful of arresting the accused soon,” he said.

Some people have also been rounded up for questioning, police sources said.

The woman’s family members, while demanding quick arrests, told reporters in Rewari on Sunday that the woman is suffering “acute trauma”.

“The accused should be hanged,” the woman’s mother said.

She also said the family had decided to return a Rs200,00 cheque that had been given to them by district administration officials under the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013. “We do not want this cheque. Is this the price which is being put for honour of my daughter? All we want is justice. We used to hear about long arm of the law, but what is police doing? The accused are yet to be arrested,” she said.

The Haryana Police has set up a special investigation team headed by Nuh SP Naazneen Bhasin and announced a reward of Rs100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the accused.

Police said the woman was allegedly abducted, gang-raped in a secluded place  near a tubewell in the fields after being offered a drink laced with sedatives.

“The secluded spot is near tubewells, where a small room is built,” the police official, who is part of the investigation, said.

Police have also recovered a liquor bottle from the spot where the crime was allegedly committed  in Mahendergarh district.

Police had on Saturday released photographs and names of the accused, who have been identified as Pankaj, a soldier in the Indian army, Manish and Nishu.

The accused live in the same village in Rewari and they knew the woman and her family, police said.

Lt Gen. Cherish Mathson, who heads the South Western Command, had said in Jaipur Saturday that they will help the police in the probe.

The victim’s father has said eight or 10 men may have raped her but she could identify only three of them.

The woman, a school topper who had been felicitated by the government, was abducted from a bus stop in Kanina town on Wednesday while she was on her way to a coaching class, police had earlier said.

She was then allegedly drugged and gang-raped after being driven into the fields, police said.

Haryana’s Director General of Police, B S Sandhu, confirmed on Saturday that one of the accused is from the Indian Army, who is posted in Rajasthan and was on leave at the time of the crime. He was supposed to re-join work on Saturday, police said.

The special investigation team had visited the crime spot on Saturday. The SIT headed by Bhasin comprises two Deputy Superintendents of Police.

The case evoked sharp reaction from opposition parties who have demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on moral grounds, saying the state had failed to protect its daughters.