Nandan Yadav, the masked man seen grabbing a 16-year-old schoolgirl in the viral video from Bihar’s Jamui, was arrested on Tuesday after being shot in the leg during a raid, police said.
Yadav’s associate, identified by the police as Hari Ram Yadav, has also been arrested.
Police said the encounter took place when they tried to flee from the spot and attacked the police team but declined to immediately share details of the circumstances around the arrest.
Deep Dive
What triggered the police action in the Jamui harassment case?
Why is the Jamui incident considered a significant case of harassment?
How have authorities responded to the circulation of the harassment video in Jamui?
Also Read: 72 hours in Bihar’s Jamui: How a harassment video triggered police action, political row
Munger range deputy inspector general (DIG) Rakesh Kumar said the special investigation team (SIT) arrested the two in an operation near Kundan Braj area on the Jamui-Lakhisarai road, about 5km from the spot where they sexually assaulted the teenager.
Police said its team opened fire when the suspect attacked them and tried to escape.
{{/usCountry}}Police said its team opened fire when the suspect attacked them and tried to escape.
{{/usCountry}}Horrific attack
Nandan Yadav had covered his face with a gamcha, a light cotton towel, on September 19 evening when a group that he was part of stopped two Class 10 students who were returning from a local tourist spot and made vulgar comments, slapped around the boy, and sexually assaulted the girl as the two pleaded for help.
Police said Nandan was spotted in one of the video clips, grabbing and dragging the girl away as she screamed for help.
The horrific incident triggered nationwide outrage and led the state police to constitute the SIT led by sub-divisional police officer Deepti Monali to track down the suspects.
Jamui superintendent of police (SP) Vishwajeet Dayal on Monday told the police that they had identified seven people with the help of video clips that had emerged on social media and arrested three of them. On Tuesday, the Jamui police said these three suspects were minors.
3 arrested for releasing video
Police said the SIT has also arrested three persons, Ramashish Chaudhary, Kundan Kumar and Mohammad Faiyaaj, on charges of circulating the video clips. A police officer said a technical team traced the origin of the videos that emerged on social media.
Police said technical teams were tracking down who recorded the video clips and who shared them, presumably in WhatsApp groups.