LUCKNOW: The four accused of Hathras rape and murder case have written a letter to the district Superintendent of Police (SP) claiming innocence in the entire case.
The letter was written from the jail by the main accused Sandeep with the thumb impressions of the other three -- Luvkush, Ravi, and Ramkumar. The accused spoke about the alleged role of the victim’s family in strangulating the girl and causing injuries to her in the fields, owing to which she died at a Delhi hospital on September 29.
Meanwhile, reacting to the letter, the victim’s family claimed that they were now big targeted and the bid was being made to implicate them in the case.
According to Hathras district jailor Alok Singh, the letter was forwarded to SP Vineet Jaiswal on Thursday. All the four accused were arrested on September 23, a day after the victim had given her statement to the magistrate naming the four accused. She claimed that they had raped her and tried to kill her in the fields where she had gone along with her mother to collect fodder on September 14.
In the letter, Sandeep said that the victim’s family had strangulated her in the fields and admitted that he and the victim were friends and used to talk often. The victim’s family was against their friendship, the accused further said.
Sandeep has conceded that he had met the victim on a fateful day in the field. Her brother and mother were there with her too. She asked him to leave immediately. Sandeep claimed that he returned home and started helping his father arranging fodder at home.
He further writes that later he came to know that the victim’s mother and her brother had beaten her up over her friendship with him on the same day. The girl had sustained injuries after being beaten up.
Since he was the victim’s friend he never assaulted or abused her in any way, Sandeep said while claiming that the other three accused were his distant relatives who had nothing to do with the incident. “We are innocent. Please investigate the case in a fair manner and help us in getting justice,” he added in the letter.
Notably, a 19-year-old Dalit girl was strangulated at Boolgarhi village in Hathras on September 14. Having sustained severe neck and spine injuries, half of her body had paralysed and she succumbed to Delhi’s Safdurjung Hospital on September 29 leading a huge outrage and political drama over the incident.
The victim’s family denied all the claims made in the letter. They said that now attempts were being made to implicate them falsely in the murder of their own daughter.
The victim’s father rejected the Call Detail Record (CDR) which was made public on Monday showing around 104 calls between a number registered in the name of the victim’s brother and Sandeep between Oct 2019 to March 2020. He claimed it to be a conspiracy against the family.
The UP government has appointed two nodal officers to keep a close vigil on the law and order situation in Hathras. ADG Aligarh range Rajiv Krishna and DIG Shalabh Mathur have been entrusted the responsibility. While Mathur will keep an eye on Chandpa police station areas under which Boolgarhi village falls, Rajiv Krishna will monitor the law and order of all the districts under the Aligarh range.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Union Minister of state Shyoraj Jivan, who was booked on Wednesday for allegedly fomenting caste conflict by using provocative language threatening a particular community, was taken to Sadabad police station in Hathras for questioning.
The Congress leader, who had allegedly visited the victim’s family on September 19, reportedly indulged in hate-mongering and instigated Dalits against the other communities. Two FIRs – one in Aligarh and others in Hathras -- were registered against him in this connection.