The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday arrested two people for allegedly gangraping a woman and burning her alive inside a temple in a village in Rajpura area of Sambhal district, ANI reported. Three other accused are absconding, the police said.
The alleged incident took place early on Saturday when the 35-year-old woman was in her house with her daughter. “According to the husband, the accused allegedly barged into the house around 2.30 am, dragged her to a temple adjacent to the house and gangraped her,” said Varun Kumar, the station house officer of the local police station. “Then they left the place. The complainant [the husband] said that after some time the accused returned and burnt her alive.”
Kumar said the the postmortem report has mentioned antemortem burn injuries as the cause of death, reported The Indian Express. “Whether she was raped or gangraped could not be ascertained… The Forensic Science Laboratory, Moradabad, has been asked to ascertain it,” he added.
The woman’s husband has filed a complaint against Aram Singh, 30, Mahaveer, 45, Charan Singh, 20, Gullu, 21, and Bhona alias Umar Pal, 22. All the accused are distant relatives of the woman. The police have also detained four people related to the accused and are questioning them.
“A total of three police teams with assistance from local intelligence units and surveillance teams are on the look out for the accused,” said Additional Director General of Police (Bareilly Zone) Prem Prakash. “I am personally monitoring the operation and the accused, who are relatives of the woman, will be arrested soon.”
He, however, refuted the allegations of the woman’s family that her calls to an emergency police number went unanswered, the Hindustan Times reported. But, Inspector General of Police (Moradabad Range) Binod Kumar Singh said the allegations were being investigated.
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