Bulandshahr rape: Three arrested, search on to nab rest accused

Inspector General of Meerut Sujeet Pandey on Tuesday confirmed that three people have been arrested in connection with the Bulandshahr gang-rape case, adding the rest of the accused will be nabbed after a proper identification parade.

Pandey said that the complainant Santosh Mishra and his family have conclusively identified the three accused, who have been taken on remand.

The Inspector General, however, said that one of the seven accused is still missing.

"Santosh Mishra and his family were called in the police station today morning for questioning. The accused were also brought there and the victims clearly and conclusively identified them. When we will go for test identification parade, we will get it done by four people, which is legally right," Pandey told the media here.

Pandey said the planning of the rape took place in Kithore from where the police recovered some garments and hair strands, which would be sent for forensic examination.

"We raided the place in Kithore, Meerut and from there we recovered a jeans and a t-shirt from Salim, a t-shirt and a lower from Pervaiz and a jeans and a t-shirt from Sajid. We have recovered some articles from these clothes and these articles are in the form of hair strands," said Pandey.

"We have got gold earrings, gold nose pins and some amount of money from Salim, Pervaiz and Sajid. Other than this, two torches and a mobile phone have been recovered," he added.

Revealing about the movements of the accused, Pandey said, "They were in Kithore on June 26 and stayed there for three days. Again they came to Kithore on July 7 and stayed there till July 22 and within that time period they did a recce with the help of a local Rihasuddin."

He said the accused came to Bulandshahr again on July 27 after which they switched off their mobile phones.

"After the incident, they went to Kithore. After that, some of them moved to Jharkhand on August 2 and again returned to Kithore on August 6 and went to Mawana the next day. They were about to leave for Bijnor on August 8 when they were arrested," he added.

Pandey further stated that both victims were earlier today called in the police station, adding they have identified the accused.

"We have recovered guns and some jewellery. They prima facie identified it all. We have evidence and we will go in for voice recognition in which they have talked about the incident among themselves," he added.

Talking about the voice sample which the police have got, Pandey said, "We will go in for voice recognition and will put it in the court of law."

The Uttar Pradesh Police yesterday arrested three accused in the Bulandshahr gang-rape case.

In a tweet late last night, Director General of Police Javeed Ahmed said the police have arrested the three accused after a week-long chase across east India.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Government has told the Allahabad High Court that it was ready to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the rape case if the court desired so.

The government counsel told a Lucknow bench yesterday that it had no hesitation in handing over the probe to the central agency.

The bench deferred the hearing till August 22, asking the parties to file an affidavit regarding the development on another petition on the same issue in Allahabad.

The horrific incident took place on July 29 when the mother-daughter duo, accompanied by four other family members, was dragged out of their car on the highway and raped in a nearby field.