Chandigarh rape case: Prime accused attempts suicide in jail

An autorickshaw driver, the prime accused in a rape case, allegedly attempted suicide inside a jail on Monday by stabbing himself with a “piece of broken glass”, police said.

Mohd Irfan (29) was arrested on Friday, almost a week after allegedly raping a 22-year-old woman along with two accomplices.

“He was taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here, where his condition was stated to be out of danger,” Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Ranjodh Singh said.

Irfan, who was lodged in the Burail jail here, allegedly broke a mirror outside the barrack, and “stabbed himself multiple times in the stomach with a piece of broken glass”, he said.

After other inmates raised an alarm, Irfan was taken to a dispensary in the jail premises and later to the GMCH in Sector 32 here, he said.

He will be booked for attempt to commit suicide, Singh said. Irfan, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, resided in Zirakpur, near here.

The Chandigarh Police on Saturday arrested two accomplices Kismat Ali and Mohammad Garib, both 21 years old, from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and Faizabad districts, respectively.

The police had said yesterday that all three accused had planned the rape of the woman, who hails from Dehradun, on November 17.

She had taken the auto rickshaw, after attending a stenography class, from Sector 37 here.

Ali and Garib were already sitting in the auto, according to a complaint filed by the woman, the police had said.

Irfan allegedly drove her to an isolated place in Sector 53 here, instead of taking her to Mohali where she had been staying as a paying guest, they said.