Special Investigation Team, formed to probe the case of alleged rape and abortion of a speech and hearing impaired inmate of Nari Niketan, has arrested two persons. The arrested were identified as 25-year-old Mohammad Hasim, resident of Teliwala, Doiwala and 32-year-old lalit Singh Bisht, resident of Vaibhav Vihar Nawada, Nehru Colony. Both were arrested on Sunday night.
Hasim was a contract employee and working as a chowkidar in Nari Niketan. Bisht was a home guard who had been deputed at Nari Niketan for night shift since September, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Sadanand Date told the mediapersons on Monday. Investigation revealed that both had established sexual relationship with the victim separately on different occasions.
Dehradun SP City Ajay Joshi who is heading the SIT team said that victim's statement before the magistrate was verified with reports collected after grilling the accused. The accused were arrested after thorough investigation conducted by the team, he added.
The incident of alleged rape and abortion of a speech and hearing impaired inmate of Nari Niketan, a highly protected shelter home for the distressed women, has triggered shock and outrage among the people of the State.
Police wavering to start the probe considering the improbability of the alleged crime deepened their fear of the case being hushed up. Police were of the view initially after the case came to light that gangrape was improbable.
What might have happened was sexual exploitation by more than one person on different occasions, they had said.
Things related to the alleged crime becoming clear now, police have sought permission from the court to collect DNA samples of the accused to match them with the three-month old dead foetus recovered by the police recently, added SP City Singh.
Notably, SIT members on Saturday had secured the permission for the recording the survivor's statement before the magistrate under section 164 of CrPC. Her statement was recorded on Sunday.
A Nehru Colony police station sub -inspector Krishna Jayara had registered a report in the Nehru Colony Police Station on November 27 and a case under Sections 376/218/201/120b of IPC was registered against unidentified Nari Niketan officers in the police station. SIT team members had grilled three Nari Niketan officials in connection with the alleged crime.
Meanwhile, family members of both the accused gheroad the Nehru Colony police station on Monday night and shouted slogans against the police, alleging that they had framed them in fabricated cases under pressure from several influential quarters.