No headway in Lucknow gang rape, murder case

The Lucknow Police Friday failed to make any headway in the gang rape and brutal murder of a young woman despite passage of 24 hours.

While police officials claimed to have identified the deceased as an employee of Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Medical Institute (SGPGI), the four special teams formed to apprehend the assailants found no success.

The state government ordered suspension of the station house officer and another policeman late Thursday night for failing to "follow basic rules in such cases".

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Lucknow, Navneit Sikera told IANS that senior officials had taken a grim view of the delays and mishandling of the case by policemen, and suspended the errant officials at Mohanlalganj police station.

The gang rape and murder, a few km away from the venue visited by former US president Bill Clinton, Thursday also jolted the state government.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav summoned DGP A.L. Banerjee, Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan and Principal Secretary (Home) Rakesh Bahadur and took a briefing on the incident.

Sutapa Sanyal, nodal officer of Crimes against Women Wing of the UP Police has been assigned the task of cracking the case and investigating the matter, an official said.

Sanyal, an ADG, told the media that it has been inferred that more than one person was involved in the crime. "Forensic teams are on the job and we hope things will be worked out soon," she added.

The deceased was found lying in a pool of blood on the premises of a village primary school, hours before Clinton arrived in the village.

While opposition parties have slammed the UP Police for the incident, senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal blamed it on the "strange love of media for UP" that the issue was being blown out of proportion.

"I do not know why the media loves UP so much. We can also say such an incident has taken place in Bangalore, Rajasthan and New Delhi... law and order is very good in UP," he told television channels while reacting to the gang rape and murder in Lucknow.