NEW DELHI: The CBI on Friday submitted its charge sheet against four accused -- Ravi, Lavkush, Sandeep, and Ramkumar alias Ramu -- in the alleged gangrape and murder case of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, officials said.
As per the official sources, the premier probe agency has invoked charges of gangrape and murder against the four on the basis of the dying declaration made by the victim before a magistrate on September 22. The local SC/ST court in Hathras has taken cognisance, the lawyer for the accused Munna Singh Pundir told the media persons outside the court.
In the chargesheet, the accused have been slapped with charges under Sections 354, 376 A, 376 D, and 302 of IPC and SC/ST Act. However, as per the informed sources, the probe agency officials are likely to take the brother of the victim to Gandhinagar for some psychological tests in connection with the case. It was the victim’s eldest brother who had initially lodged the complaint of physical assault of the victim.
The incident and the handling of the case by Hathras district and police administration had sparked protests and outrage across the country.
It may be recalled that a 19-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped by the above mentioned four persons in Boolgarhi village under Chandpa police station area in Hathras on September 14. After receiving primary treatment at Hathras district hospital, the victim was shifted to Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College of AMU on September 15. She recorded her dying declaration before a magistrate at JNL Medical College on September 22.
Later, as her condition deteriorated further, the victim was finally taken to Safdurjung hospital in Delhi where she succumbed to her injuries during treatment on September 29.
It may also be recalled that the victim was cremated in the dead of the night by the district administration along with police authorities on September 30.
Her family alleged that their consent was not taken for the cremation and that it was conducted by the authorities in a hush-hush manner.
Local police officers, however, said the cremation was carried out "as per the wishes of the family". The action was taken against six police personnel of Hathras. While five cops including two sub-inspectors were suspended, SSP Hathras Vir Vikrant was transferred.
Facing the flak, initially, the state government set up a three-member SIT to probe into the role of the police authorities in the case but later after political clamour and a nationwide outrage, the probe was handed over to the CBI. The probe agency had lodged a case on October 11.
Meanwhile, the case had reached the Supreme Court of India which ordered the probe to be conducted by the CBI monitored by the Allahabad High Court. In fact, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court is seized with the matter and monitoring the investigation.
The agency has looked into the role of accused Sandeep, Luvkush, Ravi, and Ramkumar who are in judicial custody, officials said. During the course of the investigation, all the four accused were taken to Gujarat by the CBI officials to put them through different forensic and psychological tests at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Gandhinagar.
The CBI had constituted a 15-member team to probe the incident and handed over the probe to its Ghaziabad unit under DySP Seema Pahuja. The team has already recorded statements of family members of the victim and the accused. It also recreated the crime scene a number of times before submitting the charge sheet.