Wife aided abortion after teacher raped student, say cops; 3 more arrests made
The main accused’s wife, who is a nurse at a government hospital, and another teacher took the girl to a scanning centre, where an assistant confirmed pregnancy... Further questioning is on to find out where the abortion was done. SURJIT SINGH, SSP, Ludhiana Rural
LUDHIANA:The wife of the teacher who allegedly raped a Class 11 student at a government school in a village in Jagraon subdivision helped him get the foetus aborted after the girl, 16, got pregnant, police have said. The wife, a staff nurse at a civil hospital in a town nearby, was arrested on Saturday. Besides her, a man working as assistant at Sandhu Ultra Scan facility in Raikot, and panchayat member of the village where the crime took place, were arrested too.
(Names withheld to protect girl’s identity.)
With a third teacher already having been arrested on Friday, the police now have nabbed six persons, including the teacher and the officiating principal. The matter unravelled after a teacher got on WhatsApp an audio clip of the two main accused discussing ways to abort the foetus of a girl they had raped.
Police said it was the third teacher and the main accused’s wife who took the girl to a scanning centre, where an assistant confirmed the pregnancy. However, they destroyed that report and showed in the mandatory record for the scan that she had “a cyst in the gall bladder”, said senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ludhiana Rural, Surjit Singh. Record for each such scan is mandatory under the law to curb foeticide. The symptom for her needing such a scan was mentioned as irregular menstruation cycle, the SSP added, and claimed that he had talked to doctors who told him “a cyst never forms in the gall bladder”.
However, questioning is on to reveal the nursing facility where the pregnancy was aborted.
“There are several links that yet to be verified. We will question the accused further after getting remand from court,” said the SSP. The two teachers first arrested are on police remand already. He said more arrests are likely.
‘RAPED SEVERAL TIMES’
The probe also says that the main accused teacher raped the girl multiple times in the school library. “When he used to take the victim to the library, [the third teacher] used to keep a watch and alert him when he found anyone coming towards the library,” the SSP said.
As for the panchayat member, he allegedly took money from the main accused and the third teacher to have them transferred out of the village. Police claimed to have recovered Rs 1.25 lakh in cash from him.