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The police on Tuesday booked four men, all brothers, for hacking to death a 19-year-old rape victim near her residence in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh, officers familiar with the matter said. The four accused, including the man accused of raping the victim in 2022, have been absconding and a search operation has been launched to nab them, the officer added.
Police said the woman had accused Pawan Nishad (22) of raping her three years ago, when she was a minor, on the pretext of marriage. According to the complaint lodged by the victim’s family, Pawan and his three brothers — Ashok Nishad, Prabhu Nishad and Lokchand Nishad — have been harassing the woman since then to withdraw the case.
The victim’s sister-in-law, who witnessed the crime, said the incident took place around 5 pm on Monday when they were returning home after lodging a harassment complaint against the accused. “ Ashok and Pawan Nishad, along with two of their brothers, surrounded us outside our house. They again pressured my sister-in-law to withdraw the rape case. When she refused, they started abusing us and Ashok attacked her with an axe,” she said in the police complaint.
An eyewitness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said:“ No one dared to rescue the victim out of fear of the accused. People locked themselves in their homes as the accused issued threats while brandishing the axe used in the crime.”
Mahewaghat station house officer Rajnikant Rajput said, based on the complaint, they have “booked all four accused, who have been absconding since, under Sections 302 (murder) and 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code”.
“Three police teams, including a Special Operation Group, have been set up to nab the accused and we are conducting in Kaushambi and areas bordering Prayagraj, Fatehpur and Chitrakoot,” superintendent of police (Kaushambi), Brajesh Kumar Srivastava, said.
An officer familiar with the case said one of the accused, Pawan Nishad, was arrested in May 2022 after the victim accused him of raping her on pretext of marriage. He, however, was recently granted bail and returned to the village around 15 days back.
Prime accused Ashok Nishad, who allegedly assaulted the victim with an axe, was also granted bail six months ago in a murder case, the officer added.
A probe is also underway into allegations of police negligence, the officer said.
Uttar Pradesh rape victim hacked to death, four booked – Hindustan Times
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