In a new development on the raging women shelter home controversy, Special Investigation Team (SIT), formed to crack the case of alleged rape and abortion of a speech and hearing impaired inmate of Nari Niketan, arrested four persons, including three women, on Friday, taking the number of arrested to six.
Those arrested are all employees of the shelter home located at Nehru Colony in Dehradun. The team has also recorded the statements of three persons, including two women, under section 164 of CrPC before a magistrate, said Dehradun SSP Dr Sadanand Date.
Observers opine that though police have arrested six persons so far things leave several questions unanswered.
“We need to know for how long the inmate was being sexually exploited. Besides, it must be clear whether things were happening with the knowledge and connivance of the in-charge. The lingering suspicion that the employees are being pressured to suppress the happening must be cleared,” said an observer.
Dehradun SP City Singh said that the team tasked to crack it has been leaving no stone unturned to nail all the accused. “In course of investigation, the team members found involvement of four persons who had assisted the survivor in the abortion at a hospital. The accused were arrested from Rispana Bridge (petrol pump) on Friday morning,” he added.
The accused have been identified as Nari Niketan nurse Kiran Nautiyal, resident of Kedarpuram and Nari Niketan teachers - Chandrakala Kshetri, resident of Raipur and Samanigar, native of Banaras (Uttar Pradesh) and fourth class employee Krishna Kanchha, resident of Rajpur.
On Wednesday and Thursday, SIT members reached Nari Niketan and questioned the officials and the inmates regarding the unseemly happening.
Notably, Dehradun district court had recently granted permission to SIT to match the DNA sample of the survivor with the three-month old dead foetus recovered in course of investigation.
Swinging into action following the matter going viral on the media and social networking sites, police had arrested two accused- Mohammad Hasim, resident of Teliwala, Doiwala and lalit Singh Bisht, resident of Vaibhav Vihar Nawada, Nehru Colony and sent them to Suddhowala jail.
The probe started after Nehru Colony police station sub -inspector Krishna Jayara had registered a report in the same police station on November 27 and a case under sections 376/218/201/120b of IPC was registered against unidentified Nari Niketan officers.