The police have rounded up six men accused of assaulting and robbing two trainee Army officers and allegedly raping the officers’ woman friend at the Jaam Gate tourist spot in Mhow near Indore in Madhya Pradesh around 2.30 am on Wednesday.
Indore (Rural) SP Hitika Wasal said on Friday that the police have taken three more men into custody in connection with the case and they are being interrogated.
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“We have taken three more men into custody today. We are questioning them. They have not yet been formally arrested,” Wasal told The Statesman.
Regarding the allegations of gang rape with one of the women who was with the Army officers, the SP said the woman has still not given her official statement to the police.
“We are still waiting for her to record her statement about the incident,” Wasal said.
Asked if any of the accused have confessed to the police that they raped the woman, the SP said, “That is a matter of investigation, as the accused are still being interrogated.”
According to the police, Anil Baror (27) and Pawan Bansunia (23) were nabbed on Wednesday and produced before a local court that remanded them in five-day police custody.
The third accused, Ritesh Bhabhar (25), was nabbed on Thursday night.
The remaining three absconding accused were taken into custody on Friday. They have been identified as Rohit Giriwal, Sandeep Bariya, and Sachin Makwana.
The official said that Bhabhar was accused of threatening the two Army officers and their two women friends with a pistol during the incident, while the other accused were carrying sticks.
The two Army officers, accompanied by two women, were listening to loud music in a car near the Jaam Gate around 2.30 am on Wednesday. Hearing the sound of music in the deserted area late at night, the six accused descended on the scene.
The accused held one officer and one woman hostage and told the other officer and woman that the hostages would be released only if they brought them Rs 10 lakh.
The other officer left the spot and reported the matter to his seniors. The senior Army officers alerted the police and police teams rushed to the spot as soon as the incident was reported. However, the accused fled on seeing the lights of the approaching vehicles.
The police have registered a case under sections 70 (gang rape), 310-2 (dacoity), 308-2 (extortion), and 115-2 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under relevant sections of the Arms Act based on the complaint filed by one officer.
Sources said that the two Army officers, whose names were said to be Lieutenant Pranit (23) and Lieutenant Kaushal Pal (24), are undergoing the Young Officers course at the Infantry School in Mhow cantonment town.
The sources added that the Army is most likely to take strict internal disciplinary action against both the officers and some of their administrative seniors in connection with the case. The Army is likely to conduct an inquiry for the gross indiscipline and violation of training rules, to find out, among other things, how and why the two officers were roaming outside till 2.30 am.
