Set on fire after gang rape attempt failed, alleges girl
A college student who was found without clothes and severely burnt lying along a national highway in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh has claimed she was set on fire after a failed attempt to gang-rape her, police said on Wednesday. The BA second-year student was admitted to a hospital in the district and later referred to Lucknow.
The alleged rape attempt happened near Rai Kheda village
According to Superintendent of Police S Anand, "The girl told investigators that three people tried to rape her in a field near Rai Kheda village on Monday and when they did not succeed, they poured kerosene and set her on fire."
The girl frequently changed her statements: Police officer
The police officer added that she frequently changed her statements and said that she wasn't aware of how she reached the hospital from the third floor of her college building. "In the CCTV footage, the girl- a student of a college run by a trust of former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand- was seen coming down alone from the third floor," the police said.
The girl was seen walking alone on a canal road
"Investigations with the help of CCTV footage have found that the girl went out of the college campus from a broken outer wall about 20 minutes after entering the premises and was seen walking alone on a canal road," Anand said. "Prior to that, the girl could be seen talking to her friends outside a classroom and visiting a library," the SP said.
Three teams led by Deputy SPs have been deployed
Three teams led by deputy superintendents of police (Dy SPs) as well as a team of Special Operation Group ( SOG) have been deployed. Besides, another team led by a Deputy SP with five policemen is present in Lucknow's SPM Civil Hospital where she is undergoing treatment for 72 percent burns. Earlier, reports said she suffered 60 percent burns.
Over a dozen students of the college have been questioned
"After recording the girl's statement in Lucknow, the investigating officer will take up the matter," the SP said. "Over a dozen students of the college, including her friends, have been questioned," he said. "The girl had called one person of her village on mobile phone on the day of incident and he has also been questioned," the SP said.
Villagers covered the girl with a stole before calling police
According to Asif Ali, a resident of the village where she was found without clothes, the villagers had covered her with a stole before calling the police. "In the field where she was lying, some tumblers were found without any trace of liquor," Anand said.
Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand runs the college
The girl from a village in the Jalalabad police station area studies in Swami Shukdevanand Postgraduate College, run by Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand. The Ashram was in the center of a controversy in the year 2019 after a female student of a law college run by it accused Chinmayanand of sexual assault.
Chinmayanand was arrested in 2019; was released on bail
However, the student later withdrew her charges against Chinmayanand, who was arrested in the case in September 2019 and released on bail nearly five months later.
