The eight-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the gangrape of a 19-year-old girl in Haryana's Rewari district four days ago has made the first arrest on Sunday.
“We have arrested one person, who owns the tubewell where the crime took place, under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and expect to make more arrests soon. Over 100 people have already been questioned in the case,” Nazneen Bhasin, who is in charge of the SIT, said.
The girl was abducted and gangraped after being drugged in the Narnaul area on Wednesday. In the FIR registered at Kanina, police have identified three accused – Pankaj, Manish and Nishu. Their pictures were released late on Saturday.
Sharing further information on the unfortunate incident, Bhasin today said that "The three men had taken the key to the room from the tube well owner on the day of the incident, and he has also been in hiding since the crime. He has made some revelations before the SIT, on the basis of which we are conducting further searches for the main accused."
It's also reported that all three accused hailed from the same village as the victim. Yesterday, Haryana's Director General of Police BS Sandhu confirmed that main accused is an Army man posted in Kota, Rajasthan. He is identified as as Pankaj.
Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that "it's unfortunate they (accused and victim) knew each other. It's even more unfortunate that one of the accused is an army personnel."
Khattar, who had a scheduled event in Jalandhar in Punjab, cut short his visit and reached Chandigarh in the afternoon, official sources said.
The sources said that Khattar summoned the Director General of Police (DGP) to his office to review the progress in the investigation. The chief minister directed Sandhu to ensure arrest of all the accused at the earliest, the sources said.
Rewari SP Rajesh Duggal, who has been accused of failing to take prompt action, has been shunted out and will be replaced by the SP of chief minister's security, Rahul Sharma, they said. Duggal will now lead a battalion of Haryana Armed Police in Hisar.
The victim's family had alleged that police had failed to take prompt action on their complaint and delayed action by citing jurisdiction issue between police units of Rewari and Mahendergarh districts.
The victim had topped the CBSE class 12 exams in 2016 and was felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, the mother of the victim has claimed that the family was offered a cheque of Rs 2 lakh as compensation from the government. But she has refused to accept it, demanding befitting justice for her daughter.
(With agency inputs)
