Bulandshahr gangrape: 3 accused sent to judicial custody

Lucknow, Aug 1: Three accused in the Bulandshahr gangrape case were today sent to judicial custody, even as Governor Ram Naik expressed anguish, saying cases like this have been occurring at different places and there was need to halt recurrence of such incidents.

Uttar Pradesh Police had yesterday arrested the three accused -- Naresh (25), Bablu (22) and Rais (28) -- and detained a dozen others after launching a massive hunt for a gang of dacoits suspected to be behind the highway crime.

"The trio have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by a Bulandshahr court," IG (Law and Order) Hare Ram Sharma told reporters here.

Gold ornaments of the victims and Rs 5,500 cash were recovered from the accused, he said, adding a request would be made for trial by a fast-track court. Efforts will be made to file the charge sheet within three months, he said.

Seven to eight more names have come up and the police have constituted six teams to nab them, Sharma said.

As the Samajwadi Party government faced fresh flak from opposition parties over the "deteriorating" law and order in the state where Assembly polls are barely a few months away, the Governor voiced his anguish over the incident and asked the state government and the police to take immediate steps to ensure that such cases did not recur.

"The state government and the police need to follow their duties in ensuring that such incidents do not take place in the state," he said on the sidelines of a programme here.

"This is not the first incident...Cases like these have been taking place at different places...There is a need to work to ensure safety to all," Naik said, adding immediate steps are needed in this regard.

The Governor, however, expressed satisfaction with the steps taken by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in rushing senior officials like the DGP of the state police and principal secretary (home) to the scene of the crime.

Special directives have been issued by the government to intensify highway patrolling so that such crimes did not take place again, Sharma said.

The state government, meanwhile, posted PAC Commandant Anees Ahmad Ansari as the new SSP of Bulandshahr following suspension of Vaibhav Krishna after the gangrape of a woman and her teenage daughter by bandits on Friday night.

Deputy SP Maan Singh is the new Additional SP replacing Rammohan Singh, who was among the five suspended officers, an official spokesman said here.

Bawariya gang members had brutally gangraped the woman and her 13-year-old daughter on gunpoint after dragging them out of a car in Bulandshahr on NH-91 when they were travelling with their family from Noida to Shahjahanpur.

PTI