Main Accused In The Brutal Gang Rape And Murder Of 50-Year-Old Woman In UP's Badaun Arrested
Mahant Satya Narayan, the prime accused in the brutal gang rape and murder of a 50-year-old anganwadi worker in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh has been arrested.
The temple priest who was hiding in the house of his follower was picked up by the police on Thursday night.
According to Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Budaun, Sankalp Sharma, four teams had been constituted to nab the accused who had been on the run since Monday when the crime surfaced.
The accused had a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head.
According to the family of the 50-year-old victim, on Sunday, she had gone to a temple was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Her family members had accused the temple priest and his aides of raping and murdering her.
The matter came to light that night itself when the priest and his accomplices took the body of the victim to her house, saying it was found in a dry well on the temple premises.
The FIR was registered on Tuesday after an autopsy confirmed rape and the two accomplices of the priest were nabbed.
The station house officer (SHO) of the Ughaiti police station has been suspended for a "delay in informing higher authorities, laxity in taking action, dereliction of duty and failure in taking speedy action".
The incident triggered an opposition outcry and a comparison with Delhi's 2012 Nirbhaya case after the post-mortem report confirmed rape, a broken rib cage, a fractured leg and injuries in the private parts of the victim.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered, "strongest possible action" in the case even as opposition parties have launched an attack on his government, terming the incident "horrific" and "shameful", with the Congress comparing it to the Nirbhaya case.
On Thursday a member of the National Commission for Women had courted controversy after she blamed the victim for going to the temple alone at odd hours for the rape.
NCW member Chandramukhi Devi who was visiting the kin of the victim said, "Women should not come under influence of someone and roam around in the odd hours. I also believe that if she wouldn¡¯t have gone to temple in the evening, or was accompanies by some family member she would not have been raped.¡±
After her comments came under heavy criticism, NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said she 'does not know' why the NCW member made the statement.
"No I don't..I don't know how and why the member has said this but women have all the right move on their will whenever and wherever they want to. It's society and state's duty to make places safe for women," Sharma said on Twitter.
