NEW DELHI: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district on Wednesday said they have arrested the key accused in a gangrape case of a 55-year-old Scheduled Caste woman in Jewar three days ago.
The woman was allegedly raped by four men, who dragged her to the open fields near her village at gunpoint and took turns to force themselves on her on Sunday morning.
The incident has snowballed into a political controversy with opposition parties such as the BSP and the Congress hitting out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the issue of women safety.
“Accused Mahendra was arrested on Wednesday from a spot near his village in Jewar. He was picked up by a joint team of the Jewar police, the Special Operations Group and the SWAT,” said police.
“A reward of Rs 25,000 was announced on information leading to the arrest of Mahendra in the wake of the incident in which another person has already been arrested and sent to jail,” he added.
An FIR in connection with the incident has been lodged under IPC sections 376D (gangrape), 352 (punishment for assault or criminal force) and 506 (criminal intimidation), police said.