CBI questions father, 2 brothers of 19-year-old
AGRA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned the father and two brothers of the Hathras gang rape victim for six hours on Wednesday, the second straight day the probe officials have quizzed the kin of the 19-year-old Dalit woman whose death and subsequent midnight cremation last month roiled the country.
The questioning began at the CBI’s camp office in Hathras at 11am and continued till 5pm. “The male members of the victim’s family were called to the camp office of CBI and were taken there under full security,” said Anjali Gangwar, subdivisional magistrate, Hathras. The agency’s camp office is at the office of the deputy director (agriculture) in Hathras.
On Tuesday evening, Seema Pahuja, who is heading the CBI team, reached the house of the victim and met the women of the family. The relatives of the victim requested the authorities to shift the four accused – all from the Thakur caste -from the Aligarh jail to another prison far away. “Such a decision can be taken at the government level, if such a demand is being made,” Gangwar said.
A 15-member CBI team had inspected the crime scene on Tuesday and called the victim’s brother there. The victim’s mother and aunt were also called to the spot later in the day. The CBI team also went to site where the Hathras victim was cremated at 230am on September 30 against the wishes of her family.
In Mathura, a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) quizzed four men, who were arrested a week ago for alleged links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associate body, Campus Front of India (CFI). The interrogation by the six-member ED team in Mathura jail lasted about five hours, but officials refused to share any details with the media.
The questioning revolved around sources of funding raised through a website, which is at the centre of a state government probe into an international conspiracy to foment caste violence.
The four men -- Atiq-urRehman of Muzaffarnagar, Siddique from Mallpuram (Kerala), Masood from Bahraich and Alam from Rampur -- are currently in Mathura jail. Siddique is a journalist.