Army man among 3 suspects in Haryana CBSE topper's gangrape

The National Commission for Women stepped in on Saturday as an army man and two others accused of raping a young woman in Haryana's Mahendragarh district three days ago continued to evade arrest.

A top commander said the army will help the police in the probe.

The Haryana police set up a special investigation team and announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to their arrest.

The victim's father has said 8 or 10 men may have raped her but she could identify only three of them.

The woman, a school topper who had been felicitated by the government, was abducted at a bus stop in Kanina town on Wednesday while she was on the way to a coaching class, police said.

She was then allegedly drugged and gangraped at a secluded spot.

Haryana's Director General of Police B S Sandhu confirmed Saturday that one of the accused is an Army man posted in Rajasthan.

A police team has been sent there, “and I hope that he will be arrested today," he told reporters.

Sandhu said the army man was on leave and expected to rejoin later in the day.

In Jaipur, Lt Gen Cherish Mathson, who heads the South Western Command, said the Army will help bring the rape accused to book.

“We do not shelter criminals. We would facilitate in searching out the accused, and will make sure that if any Army man is found involved in the rape case, he is brought to the book,” he told reporters at an Army event.

Also on Saturday, the National Commission for Women condemned the incident and asked the Haryana police chief to give an update on the probe.

The special investigation team, led by Nuh Superintendent of Police Naazneen Bhasin, visited the crime spot.

Bhasin told reporters in Rewari that the sketches of the accused will soon be released by police.

Their antecedents are also being checked for any past criminal record.

She said a medical examination had confirmed rape.

The victim's mother had accused the police of delay in acting after a complaint was filed, but Bhasin countered the charge.

She said the police sent out raiding teams when they were told about the crime. “But the accused had left the place on the day of incident, according to their mobile forensics."

Multiple teams have been formed to nab them, she said.

The SP said police personnel attended to the victim properly.

"The most important factor was to make the victim comfortable to take her statement in a sensitive way,” she said, adding there was no delay in this procedure.

The army man who allegedly raped the woman was identified as Pankaj, posted in Kota.

Narnaul and Rewai police are also looking for the other two men, the Haryana police chief said, expressing confidence that they will be caught soon.

Sandhu said all the three accused were known to the victim.

He said an FIR was registered as soon as the victim lodged her complaint, and a medical examination conducted.

She was kidnapped by three men who arrived in a car and was taken to a secluded place where she was gangraped after being offered a drink laced with sedatives, the complainant had alleged.

The accused later left her near a bus stop in Kanina the same day.

The case evoked sharp reaction from the opposition parties.

They demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on moral grounds, saying the state had failed to protect its daughters.