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Athawale offers Rs 5 lakh to Hathras victim’s family
Union minister of state for social justice Ram Dass Athawale also assured to talk with chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the issue.
Visits by political parties to the village of the Hathras gang-rape victim continued on Tuesday with leaders of the Communist Party reaching her house to console the family members.
Later, Union minister of state for social justice Ram Dass Athawale reached the village with workers of the Republican Party of India and offered Rs 5 lakh as monetary help to the family. He assured to talk with chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the issue.
Earlier in the day, a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) also reached the village and returned after investigating more facts.
The SIT visited the site where the body of the victim was cremated in the dead of the night. It also went to the crime spot and interacted with people in the village. Athawale justified the CBI probe ordered by the UP chief minister.
Also read: Affidavit copy-paste job in bid to cover-up Hathras gangrape, says Cong
Taking a dig at the Opposition, Athawale said that the Opposition would have sought a CBI probe if the CM had ordered a judicial probe. He consoled the family members and assured to take up the issue with the CM.
On September 14, a 19-year-old woman from the Hathras village was gang-raped by four accused who are now in custody. She was and admitted to JN Medical College in Aligarh and was later moved Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Monday last week as her condition deteriorated. She died a week ago.
There was much controversy after her body was cremated at 3 am on Wednesday despite family members saying no to the cremation at night and wanting to take her body to their house.
Meanwhile, the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by senior IPS officer Bhagwan Swaroop who is posted as secretary of home department. Two other members of the SIT are deputy IG Chandra Prakash and Poonam, the commandant of 15th Battalion PAC Agra. The SIT has been asked to submit its report within a week.
