Loni: Two suspects arrested over speech and hearing impaired woman’s gang rape

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police on late Thursday evening arrested two people in the alleged gang rape of the 23-year-old speech and hearing-impaired woman in Loni on August 18 night

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police on late Thursday evening arrested two people in the alleged gang rape of the 23-year-old speech and hearing-impaired woman in Loni on August 18 night.

Police identified the two suspects as Rohit Kumar, 31, and Vir Singh, alias Bhola, 53. Both are Nithora village residents and married. (Representational image)

Police identified the two suspects as Rohit Kumar, 31, and Vir Singh, alias Bhola, 53. Both are Nithora village residents and married. Both were arrested near Nithora after they sustained a bullet injury to their legs during police’s retaliatory fire.

“The two men accepted their involvement in the gang rape. They were having drinks at a tubewell, near Nithora village. Seeing the woman walking alone on the isolated stretch, they asked her where she was going. When she did not reply, they pulled her to the tubewell area and gang-raped her. Then, they let her off. The section for gang rape will be added now,” said Surendra Nath Tiwary, DCP of the rural zone.

“We will interrogate them more, and their criminal history, if any, is also being scanned. The victim’s mobile is yet to be recovered. It got switched off due to unknown reasons around 8.30pm on August 18,” the DCP added.

Officers said that the two suspects were nabbed during a checking operation, and their names also surfaced during electronic surveillance by police in last days.

“Hundreds of mobiles from different mobile towers were scanned, and the mobiles of the two suspects were found at the crime scene. During interrogation, they said that they raped the woman between 9pm and 10pm on August 18 and no one else was with them. Initially they overpowered her, and she put up a resistance. After the assault, they let her go, and she walked back on the same road from where she had wandered to the tubewell area,” said Siddharth Gautam, ACP of the Loni circle.

Officers said that footage from a CCTV camera about 300-400 metres away from the scene of the crime revealed that the victim was walking alone, and again, about one-and-half hours later, she was seen walking back on the same road.

“The two men raped her while the victim unknowingly walked to the tubewell area. Suspect Rohit assaulted her initially, and the second suspect later,” the ACP added.