CBSE Topper Gang-Rape Case: Rewari SP Rajesh Duggal transferred, 1 arrested

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday ordered transfer of Rewari Superintendent of Police Rajesh Duggal amid criticism over the gang-rape of a 19-year-old college student. Rahul Sharma took charge as the new SP of Rewari.

Khattar reviewed with DGP BS Sandhu the progress in the investigation and shunted out the district police chief, as raids continued at several places on Sunday to arrest the three accused, including an Army man.

As pressure built on it to act swiftly, the police arrested a registered medical practitioner, who first attended to the woman, and a villager on whose property she was found.

Khattar, who had a scheduled event in Jalandhar in Punjab, cut short his visit and reached Chandigarh in the afternoon, official sources said.

The sources said that Khattar summoned the Director General of Police (DGP) to his office to review the progress in the investigation. The chief minister directed Sandhu to ensure arrest of all the accused at the earliest, the sources said.

Duggal, who has been accused of failing to take prompt action, has been shunted out and will be replaced by the SP of chief minister's security, Rahul Sharma, they said. Duggal will now lead a battalion of Haryana Armed Police in Hisar.

The move came hours after the Haryana Police arrested the owner of a tubewell where the woman from Rewari was gangraped on September 12. The man has been identified as Deen Dayal.

According to the police, Dayal had rented the tubewell out to his friends and knew that the crime was taking place there.

"Around 60 people have been questioned and the crime spot has been identified. The forensic report is a key evidence and we are likely to get it by evening," said Superintendent of Police (Nuh) Nazneen Bhasin. She is heading the Special Investigation Team commissioned by the Haryana Police.

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The 19-year-old student was abducted and gangraped by three men, including an army soldier, at Kanina in Mahendragarh district, while she was on her way to her coaching centre on September 12.

In her police complaint, the victim said Pankaj (the armyman) and his friend Manish drugged her and dragged into a car and allegedly raped her. After gaining her consciousness, she said, another man Nishu also raped her. The medical examination of the victim also confirmed the gang-rape.

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“Medical reports confirm gangrape but how many committed the crime is a matter of investigation. Samples have been sent to the forensic lab,” said Nazneen Bhasin, superintendent of police (SP), Nuh, has earlier said.

Bhasin also visited the victim in the hospital, where her condition was said to be stable. Meanwhile, on the directions of Haryana State Women Commission chairperson Pratibha Suman, the police have provided security to the victim’s family.