Armyman among two prime accused arrested
HISAR: Eleven days after a 20-year-old Rewari woman was gangraped, Haryana Police’s special investigation team (SIT) on Sunday arrested two key accused, including an armyman, who kept changing their hideouts when they were on the run.
The woman was abducted from the Kanina bus stop in Mahendragarh district on September 12 while she was on the way to a coaching class and was allegedly drugged and gangraped at a room housing a tubewell for irrigation. The accused later dumped her at a bus stop and informed her father.
Armyman Pankaj and his friend Manish were arrested from Satnali area of Mahendergarh district in the morning near a dhaba where they had gone to have breakfast, said Nuh superintendent of police (SP) Naazneen Bhasin, who is also heading the SIT which was set up to probe the case. The police will produce both the accused in a local court on Monday.
“The two accused buried their phone somewhere. They even visited Bikaner in Rajasthan and took shelter in dhanis (cluster of houses) and dharamshalas and slept in fields,” Bhasin, who was flanked by additional director general of police (ADGP), southern range, Shrikant Jadhav, told reporters. Anyone who gave shelter the accused when they were on the run will also face action, she said. “Prima facie, it appears to be an organised gangrape. Our team worked roundthe-clock to get leads about the accused and even we chased rumours to arrest the accused,” said Bhasin.
“We have sent the victim’s medical reports to a forensic lab to know how many people raped her, she added.
On September 16, police arrested one of the main accused Nishu, besides Deendayal, owner of the tubewell room, and Sanjeev, a registered medical practitioner who attended to the woman after the crime. Nishu is currently in police remand while other accused Sanjeev and Deendayal have been remanded to judicial custody.
When asked why police took this much time to nab the accused, Bhasin said various cells of the police, including ones engaged in gathering groundlevel intelligence and technical surveillance of accused, were at job and processing all this data does take time.
Bhasin said while five people have been arrested in the case, but possibility of more people being involved in the matter has not been ruled out at this stage, something which the woman’s family too has suspected.
The victim’s family members and a ‘Mahapanchayat’ or conglomeration of several villages in Rewari district, which was convened Friday, had demanded early arrest of the accused.
Earlier this week, traders in Kosli town had observed a bandh to protest against the gangrape.
ARMYMAN PANKAJ AND HIS FRIEND MANISH WERE ARRESTED FROM SATNALI AREA OF MAHENDERGARH DISTRICT IN THE MORNING NEAR A DHABA WHERE THEY HAD GONE TO HAVE BREAKFAST