Bhopal gangrape case: Accused carrying Rs 10,000 reward nabbed
BHOPAL: A Special Investigation Team of the police on Monday arrested a man, carrying a reward of Rs 10,000 on his head, in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 19year-old woman here, a senior official said.
With the arrest of Ramesh Mehra alias Raju (45), all four men accused of allegedly abducting and raping the woman when she was returning from her coaching classes on October 31, are now in the police custody.
The GRP had earlier arrested Golu alias Bihari Chadhar (25), Amar alias Ghuntu (24) and Rajesh Chetram alias Raju (26) in connection with the case.
“The fourth accused, Ramesh Mehra alias Raju, was arrested from the Kolar Road in Salaiya area here today,” SIT chief and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sudhir Laad said. All the accused have been booked under sections 376 D (gangrape), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) of the IPC. Earlier in the day, the GRP had announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information on Mehra.
Superintendent of Police, Bhopal Railway Division, Ruchi Vardhan Mishra had told PTI that teams of GRP personnel had been fanned out to trace the absconding accused.
Following the public outrage over the incident, five police officers were suspended and three were transferred, including SP (Rail) Anita Malviya and Inspector General (Bhopal Range) Yogesh Choudhary.
In the wake of the incident, the state government is mulling over directing private educational centres to wind up teaching activities by 8 pm, or ensure safety of students leaving after that.
Meanwhile, AAP leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai, who met the woman here on Monday, sought resignation of Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh and demanded that the police officials who “delayed” filing of an FIR in the case be booked for negligence and criminal charges.
“The incident is condemnable. The victim and her fam- ily members pleaded before the police administration for the entire day on November 1. But the officials continued to pass the buck. The FIR was filed when pressure came from the higher authorities,” Rai told reporters after meeting her.
The woman, a college student and the daughter of a police couple, was reportedly made to do rounds of police stations to lodge an FIR and was allegedly turned away over ‘jurisdiction’ of the crime.
She could finally lodge the FIR on November 1 evening with the GRP police station at the Habibganj railway station.
Rai also demanded the case be tried in a fast track court. He said his party would submit a memorandum to the National Commission for Women (NCW) on the issue.
AAP’S state convener Alok Agrawal, who accompanied Rai, claimed that on an average 12 cases of rape are reported in Madhya Pradesh everyday.