Andaman gang-rape: Rs 1L reward declared for info on absconding duo

The Andaman and Nicobar police on Wednesday announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of absconding labour commissioner RL Rishi in connection with a gang rape case in which former chief secretary Jitendra Narain is also an accused.

The same declaration of Rs one lakh bounty was made by the police authorities also for a businessman identified as Sandeep Singh alias Rinku.

Photographs and physical details of the two absconding persons - 46-year-old Rishi and Singh, 38, - were shared by the police on Twitter.

“The name of the informant will be kept secret and shall be given a cash reward of Rs 1,00,000 for each accused,” the Andaman and Nicobar Police tweeted.

A special investigation team of the police was constituted to probe into allegations that a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was lured to the chief secretary's residence by promising a government job and then raped by Narain and Rishi.

The businessman was named in the FIR as an accomplice in the crime.

The FIR was registered on October 1 when Narain was posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation.

The government suspended him on October 17 with immediate effect.

The SIT questioned Narain in connection with the case for two days.

A police inspector was also grilled by the SIT in this connection.

The woman said as her father and stepmother did not take care of her financial needs, she required a job and was introduced by some people to the labour commissioner as he was close to the then chief secretary.

She claimed in the FIR that the chief secretary appointed "7,800 candidates" in various departments in the administration of the islands "on the basis of recommendation only" and without any "formal interview".

The woman alleged that she was lured to the chief secretary's home with the promise of a government job, and then raped there on April 14 and May 1.