Five accused of setting rape victim afire in Unnao remanded in judicial custody

The five men arrested for allegedly setting aflame the Unnao rape victim were on Friday produced before a court here and remanded in 14-day judicial custody.

All the five accused were produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Virat Saxena amid tight security and were sent to Unnao jail under judicial custody, said Inspector Ajay Kumar Tripathi, the in-charge of Bihar police station, where the burning case was registered.

Unnao Additional Superintendent of Police B K Pandey said efforts will be made to take them in police remand for custodial interrogation and gather evidence in the case.

The police had arrested the two rape accused, Shivam and Shubham, and their three accomplices in setting the girl aflame on the basis of the victim's statement.

In her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak, the victim had said she was abducted and raped by Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi in December 2018 and the trial of the case is going on in a Raebareli court.

She said she was going to Raebareli to pursue the case, but when she reached Gaura turn, Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai along with Shivam and Shubham, armed with knives and lathis attacked her and set her on fire.

The rape victim who sufferred serious burns was airlifted to Delhi hospital, where her condition was stated to be critical.