3 cops suspended for dereliction of duty

Nagpur, Jan 16 (UNI) A head constable and two police constables, attached to the Sakkardara police station here, have been suspended in connection with Saturday's murder of a man and the alleged gang-rape of his wife.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Suresh Mekala told UNI that head constable Kashinath Pachore, and police constables Rajendra Ganerkar and Dilip Jadhav had failed to an receiving information that some people were beating up a man. ''Had they responded, we could have prevented the subsequent events (the murder of the man and the gang-rape of his wife),'' Mr Mekala said.

Police commissioner S P S Yadav issued the suspension orders last night, Mr Mekala informed.

The police are investigating a complaint by the woman that six men and a woman beat her husband Abdul Karim Abdul Rahim (35) to death on Saturday accusing him of theft, and that later they had gang-raped her. The police have registered an offence under sections 302, 376 (G), 323 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against seven people.

The police have arrested four of them but the three others are still at large.

UNI