Haryana gangrape accused spent nights in dharamshalas, open fields to escape police

From sleeping in the open fields to changing rooms in nondescript dharamshalas, the Haryana gangrape accused did everything to evade the arrest. But on Sunday, their luck ran out and were nabbed by the cops exactly 10 days after the heinous crime hit the national headlines.

The Haryana Police managed to arrest the army jawan and the other co-accused from Mahendergarh’s Stanali area on Sunday. Without sharing the specific locations of their hideouts, SIT chief Naazneen Bhasin said that the accused kept wandering, including along the Haryana-Rajasthan border.

Armyman Pankaj was a kabaddi champion, who was trained by prime accused Nishu’s father. It was his excellence in the game that helped his to secure the army job.

With Sunday’s operation, all accused in the sensational case have been arrested. 

Nishu is currently in police remand while other accused Sanjeev and Deendayal have been remanded to judicial custody.

Sanjeev was a medical practitioner who had attended to the woman first after the crime and Deendayal was the owner of the property where she was allegedly gangraped, police had said.

Many local villagers have alleged that the property where the victim was gang raped was used for "nefarious activities" in the past. The SIT said these allegations are already under investigation.

The woman was abducted at a bus stop in Kanina town in neighbouring Mahendragarh district on September 12 while she was on the way to a coaching class, the police had earlier said.

She was allegedly drugged and gangraped at a room housing a tubewell for irrigation.

The case sparked massive outrage in Haryana and across the country. Earlier, a 'Mahapanchayat' combining of 25 villages was held in Kosli town over Rewari gangrape case. The gathering declared that no practicing lawyer will help any of the accused in the gangrape case. The ‘Mahapanchayat’ also wrote to the Haryana Governor seeking strict action against accused.

(With agency inputs)