LUCKNOW: While all the five persons arrested for attempting to burn the Unnao rape survivor alive on Thursday, were sent to jail after being produced in the local court, on Friday, the forensic team confirmed that petrol was used to set the survivor ablaze.
Having collected the evidence from the spot of the incident, the forensic experts tested the residue and claimed that petrol was used in the bid to burn the victim.
The victim breathed her last at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on late Friday night.
Unnao police authorities also claimed that during raids at the residence of accused, they recovered a bottle of petrol. As per the SP Unnao, Vikrant Singh, five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to probe the issue was already at work and conducting the inquiry into the issue from all the angles.
On the other, the probe team may go for the lie-detector and polygraph test of the accused to reveal the truth about the Thursday incident. As per the police sources, although they had got some corroborative evidence including mobile location and other evidence from the spot of the crime but need to substantiate it through confirmatory tests.
In the meantime, reacting to several posts on social media regarding the threat calls the vicitm’s family was receiving from the relatives of main accused, Unnao SP said the probe into the allegation was going on and foolproof security was being ensured to the victim’s relatives.
“We are trying to ascertain the spruce of such reports as the victim’s family has not yet approached the police in this regard. We have not received any complaint so far,” said SP Vikrant Singh.
Meanwhile, the local residents of the victim’s village claimed that the main accused Shivam Trivedi and the rape victim were childhood friends.
“There is a huge gap in the age of the victim and the accused. While the woman is already a graduate and arguing in the rape case herself, the accused are college-going students. Umesh Bajpai, one of the five accused is a panchayat mitra,” said Ram Prakash Singh of the Hindu Khera village.
While talking to TNIE, accused Shubham’s mother Savitir Devi, three-time gram pradhan alleged that the woman wanted to marry Shivam as his family was wealthier.
“My son is being falsely implicated in the case by the woman. He is innocent and was sleeping at home when cops took him away on Thursday,” she said wailing.
Meanwhile, the relatives of all five accused comprising of two sons and two fathers had put up a huge demonstration at Unnao police headquarter demanding release of the accused saying they were falsely implicated in the case by the victim.
On the contrary, the victim’s father demanded the Telangana police act to be replicated in UP.
“Such action will only create fear in perpetuators otherwise they will continue to secure bail, get released and then commit a crime again,” he said.