Jaipur: A woman was allegedly raped by five men in front of her husband in Rajasthan's Alwar district, following which three of the accused were arrested on Tuesday and a police officer removed.
Fourteen police teams were pressed into service to nab the other two accused, IG Jaipur S Segathir said.
Those arrested were identified as Indraraj Gurjar, Ashok and Mukesh, he said, adding that Mukesh had also recorded the crime and uploaded the video on social media.
"Two rape accused are absconding. Mukesh had shot the video and uploaded it on social media. He has been arrested under the IT Act," the IG said.
The incident took place on April 26 when the woman was travelling on a motorcycle with her husband. The accused stopped them on the Thanagazi-Alwar bypass and dragged the couple to an isolated area, where they allegedly raped the woman and threatened her husband with dire consequences, police said.
One of the accused, identified as Indraraj Gurjar, a truck driver, has been arrested and 14 teams have been formed to search others involved in the case, Director General of Police Kapil Garg told reporters here.
The DGP said the station house officer of the Thanagazi police station was suspended for not taking a prompt action in the case. The Rajasthan government Tuesday night removed Alwar SP Rajiv Pachar following the incident.
"The SP has been removed and put under the Awaiting Posting Order status till further orders," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeeva Swarup said. An FIR was lodged on May 2 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the SC/ST Act, police said.
The survivor told a national daily that the more she resisted, the more the five men tortured her and her husband. The gang-rape went on for almost three hours.
According to the survivor's brother-in-law, his brother works in Jaipur and his wife stays at her parent's place near Thanagazi. “On April 26, they went shopping in Alwar. They were on their bike when five men on two motorcycles started following them on a deserted stretch of the road. They forced my brother to stop. They then dumped the couple's bike in a ditch and dragged them to the sand dunes off the road. "
The couple were then forced to strip and videotaped. He said the five beat up his brother with sticks and hit his wife. The more she resisted, the more they assaulted. Out of desperation to save her husband, she surrendered. They took turns raping her and it continued for close to three hours.” The assailants robbed the couple of Rs 2,000 too, he said.
The survivor's brother-in-law said the victims took three days to tell them about what they went through. One of the five men later called the couple and demanded Rs 9,000 to delete the videos. One of the videos was uploaded on social media.
Relief ordered
In a related development, the state government has released an interim relief Rs 4.12 lakh for the victim as per the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
BJP seeks CM's resignation
BJP state president Madan Lal Saini condemned the incident and demanded resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who holds the portfolio of the home department.
He alleged that the incident was "concealed" by the Congress government due to elections.
"There appears to be a political conspiracy because the case was kept hidden till elections. Those who are in the government are also culprits. There are posters of Congress president Rahul Gandhi with 'Ab Hoga Nyay' slogan, but women want to ask why injustice is there with them in the Congress-ruled state," Saini told reporters here.
He claimed that nine cases of rape took place in Udaipurwati (Jhunjhunu) in 21 days, two cases of abduction of brides have happened and the crime has increased.
