Kullu Police on Thursday arrested three Nepali nationals in their mid-20s for allegedly gang-raping a US national on Monday night, on the outskirts of tourist town of Manali after giving her a lift.
Police arrested the three accused from three different locations of the district and seized the vehicle used in the crime. However, police is yet to recover the stolen items and cash from the accused and is likely to seek their remand from court for further interrogation.
The three accused arrested are Arjun alias Rocky (22) wanted in an old case of 2010, lakki (24) and Som Bahadur Tamang (24) who was trying to escape from Kullu district with a woman. Police arrested the three accused based on human intelligence and mobile phone tracking done after the number was given by one of the accused.
Police also seized the vehicle used in the crime, which belongs to one Manoj Kumar of Manali and the truck used to ferry raw construction material in the district. Kumar had told the police, that Arjun alias Rocky was the driver of the truck in which lift was given to the victim on Monday midnight.
"After the vehicle was identified, we questioned Kumar and he said that Arjun was employed by him on daily wage basis just five days before the crime was committed," said Kullu SP Vinod Kumar Dhawan.
Dhawan said that all the three accused were picked up on Thursday morning and would be produced in the court by evening. "We will seek police remand of the three accused as the stolen goods of the victim has not been recovered yet," said Dhawan.
He added that police had to do arduous job as the victim could not provide much information, as she could not recognize the number plate of the vehicle but had only said that left side wind shield of the vehicle was broken and seats were torn up.
"Police had laid several check posts and massive man hunt was launched along with frisking of vehicles were done in the entire district from garage to workshops to different construction sites and finally the vehicle was identified and recovered," said Kullu SP
Forensic teams have also collected some samples from the vehicle and report is being awaited which will act as additional evidence against the accused. A US national was gang raped by three persons on Monday night after she asked for a lift from a truck while returning from a Vashisht village- a place famous for natural hot water spring on the outskirts of Manali town.