Main accused in Budaun rape held after 5- day run

Mahant was arrested in a late- night crackdown

Budaun ( UP), Jan. 8: A priest, who is the main accused in the alleged gangrape of an anganwadi worker in this Uttar Pradesh district, was quizzed throughout Friday night after his arrest in a late- night crackdown that ended his five- day run.

The “mahant”, Satya Narayan, was hiding in a forest area near the house of one of his followers in Mewali village under the Ughaiti police station, from where he was picked up, the police said.

The priest, who is in his 50s, was immediately arrested and interrogated by a police team.

Senior Superintendent of Police ( SSP) Sankalp Sharma said the subinspector in- charge of the area, Amarjit Singh, was suspended on Friday.

The station house officer ( SHO) of the Ughaiti police station, Raghvendra Pratap, was suspended earlier for a “delay in informing higher authorities, laxity in taking action, dereliction of duty and failure in taking speedy action” and a case under IPC section 166A ( public servant disobeying law) has been registered against the two officers.

They had informed senior officials about the incident after a delay of 17 hours, the SSP said.

He said the priest is being questioned and further action will be taken in accordance with the information provided by him.

Some more people are on police radar and they are also being questioned, the SSP said, adding that all the angles are being looked into and the case will be solved soon.

The priest will be taken for a medical examination and produced before a local court for seeking remand later in the day, the police said.

The 50- year- old woman,

who had gone to a temple, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Sunday. Her family members accused the temple priest and his accomplices of raping and killing her.

A case was registered against the accused and two of them — Vedram and Jaspal — were arrested on Tuesday night.

The incident triggered an opposition outcry and a comparison with the 2012 Nirbhaya case in Delhi after the postmortem report confirmed rape, a broken rib cage, a fractured leg and injuries in the victim’s private parts.