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Expelled BJP leader’s aide, 5 others held for girl’s gang rape and murder in Uttarakhand
Police said they could not find the involvement of the expelled BJP leader in the gang rape and murder of the girl, but he remains booked for criminal conspiracy for concealing the crime
Dehradun: Six people, including a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s aide, were arrested on Thursday in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district, police said.
The body of the girl was found along the Roorkee-Haridwar highway in Haridwar on June 24, and the next day the Uttarakhand police charged BJP leader Aditya Raj Saini and his aide Amit Saini with murder, abduction and gang-rape, among others, following a complaint from the minor’s mother.
After the incident came to light, Aditya Raj Saini was removed as a member of the state’s OBC commission as well as BJP’s state OBC Morcha and was also expelled from primary membership of the BJP.
On Thursday, the police however said they could not find the involvement of the expelled BJP leader in the gang-rape and murder of the girl, but he remains booked for criminal conspiracy for concealing the crime.
“We have arrested six people, including Amit Saini, who was named in the FIR, for the crime. The second accused named in the FIR, Aditya Raj Saini, has been charged with criminal conspiracy for concealing the crime,” Haridwar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Pramendra Dobhal said.
On June 25, a case was registered against the two under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 363 (kidnapping), 376-D (gangrape), among others, of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act at the Bahadarabad police station.
Besides Amit Saini, those arrested on Thursday have been identified as his mother Shashi Devi, Nitin (20), Nikhil Panchal (20), Tushar alias Kala (20), Mausam (19) — all residents of Haridwar, police said.
During investigation, the SSP said, it came to light that the girl was in contact with Amit Saini for the past six months. Saini had been physically exploiting her under the pretext of marriage, Dobhal said.
“On June 23 evening, Nitin, who knew the girl, took her to a place where his friends Nikhil Panchal, Tushar and Mausam were already present. They made her drink beer. After getting drunk, they went to Haridwar town to take bath in the Ganga. Later, they took her to a deserted place on Rohlaki road, where Nitin and Nikhil raped her,” the SSP said.
Tushar and Mausam were about to rape her, but they got scared due to some movement on the road, he said. “Nitin and Nikhil then dropped off the girl near her house late in the night. They threatened her of dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident,” the SSP said.
The girl then went to Amit’s house, where the latter’s father Madan Pal Saini, mother Shashi Devi and sister Ruby Saini were present. “Amit took her to his room... When the girl narrated her ordeal to him, he got furious and started beating her. In the process, she got injured after her head hit the iron gate,” he said.
In panic, Amit took her to the highway and pushed the minor in front of a vehicle coming from Roorkee side. “He informed his cousin Aditya Raj Saini about it, but the latter concealed it from the victim’s mother as well as the police,” the SSP said.
Efforts are being made to arrest the three absconding accused, Aditya and Amit’s father and sister.
“On June 24 morning, when the victim’s mother reached Aditya Raj Saini’s house, he concealed the incident despite knowing everything. He misled the victim’s mother and asked her to not approach the police,” the SSP said.
He added that the accused have admitted to the crime.
In her complaint to the Uttarakhand police, the 13-year-old victim’s mother alleged that Amit Saini lured her daughter away from their home at around 7 pm on June 23. “When she didn’t come back till late at night, I called my daughter on her mobile phone. Amit Saini picked up who said my daughter was with him. When I tried again, the phone was switched off,” she wrote in the complaint. It adds that Saini had lured her daughter into a relationship for the past six months, had raped her in this period, and had even threatened the family previously.
On the morning of June 24, the victim’s mother then went to the residence of Aditya Raj Saini, who she alleged, worked with him. “When I told him about the matter, Aditya Raj Saini asked me not to approach the police and said he would handle the situation. He is involved in the case. They have gang-raped my daughter and murdered her,” she said in her complaint.
