Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Three arrests in Haryana gang rape case ....

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In her complaint, the woman said two men named Pankaj and Manish drugged her and took her near a well, where they raped her. The woman said she spotted the third accused, Nishu, after regaining consciousn­ess. “Nishu has been arrested,” Nuh superinten­dent of police Naazneen Bhasin, who is leading the SIT, said on Sunday evening.

She said raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining accused.

The SIT also arrested Deen Dayal, the owner of the tubewell room where the woman was allegedly raped, and a medical practition­er named Sanjeev Kumar, who provided treatment to the survivor in collusion with the accused after her condition worsened, the police said.

The arrests came on a day Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar ordered the transfer of Rewari SP Rajesh Duggal following allegation­s of negligence by the police.

Bhasin said the SIT was conducting raids in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan to trace the absconding accused.

“With the arrest of the two, the police got some vital clues about the whereabout­s of the rest accused and they will be arrested soon. We will produce Deen Dayal and Sanjeev in court on Monday and seek police remand for further investigat­ions,” she said.

Relatives, friends and fellow villagers of the accused are among 100 people the police have questioned as part of their investigat­ions.

The survivor, who has identified the accused, and her parents said earlier that the police were not taking satisfacto­ry action in the matter.

The family alleged that more men could be linked to the crime.

The woman’s mother said the family had decided to return a cheque for Rs 2 lakh handed over to them on Saturday under the Haryana Victim Compensati­on Scheme, 2013.

“We do not want this cheque. Is this the price which is being put for honour of my daughter? All we want is justice. We used to hear about long arm of the law, but what are police doing? The accused are still on the run,” she said.

Pankaj, the accused armyman who was on leave when the crime took place, was supposed to re-join his duty on Saturday but he didn’t return, the investigat­ors said. They only gave the first names of the accused.

The case has triggered sharp reactions from opposition parties who have demanded the resignatio­n of CM Khattar on moral grounds, saying the state failed to protect its daughters.

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