The upper-caste youth who allegedly killed a Dalit woman and kidnapped her daughter at a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district on Thursday was arrested from a hotel in Haridwar on Saturday evening.
The abducted girl, 20-year-old Ruby Kumari, has also been recovered.
Vipin Tanda, senior superintendent of police of Meerut, said: “We are bringing them to Meerut at the moment and can only comment after interrogating them.”
The police had announced a reward of ₹25,000 for information on 25-year-old Paras Singh Som only an hour before they succeeded in tracking him down.
Sources said Paras's friend and co-accused Sunil Singh Som, who was arrested first, revealed his whereabouts. “They had taken the girl to Gurgaon first but shifted to Haridwar for some reason," said another cop associated with the case.
Both Paras and Sunil belong to the Rajput community.
The whereabouts of the other two unidentified accused are unknown.
Earlier on Saturday, the police had blocked all entries to Kapsad village, where Sunita Devi, 50, was killed on Thursday while trying to protect Ruby from being abducted by Paras and his associates.
The village was cordoned off on Friday, but reporters and BJP politicians were allowed entry. From Saturday, entry has been strictly restricted to residents of the village.
Deceased Sunita Devi’s family conducted her last rites on Friday night after initially refusing to do so till the accused were arrested and Ruby was brought home safe.
According to a complaint filed by Sunita’s son Mandeep Kumar, 25-year-old Paras, Sunil Singh and two other unidentified men had intercepted the mother-daughter duo on their way to their fields on Thursday morning.
Paras attacked Sunita with an axe when she tried to prevent him and his friends from forcibly taking Ruby away. Sunita later died in a hospital.
The villagers said the government posted two battalions of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) at the village entry points on Saturday after the victim’s family raised uncomfortable questions in front of reporters about the police’s alleged failure to recover Ruby and nab the accused.
The PAC on Saturday asked the media and leaders from the Opposition parties to leave the village.
Ruby’s eldest brother Narsi Kumar said: “I had told the reporters to ask the cops whether they would tender an apology for failing to bring back my sister from Paras’s clutches. Later, I asked the same question to the police officers. They didn’t like this and removed the media and the non-BJP leaders from the village.”
Sunita’s last rites were conducted after Sangeet Som, a former BJP MLA of Sardhana, promised that Ruby would be recovered within 48 hours, the killer-kidnapper would be behind bars, a member of the victim’s family would get a job, the government would provide them an arms licence and ₹10 lakh compensation, and the police would offer them security.
The villagers said Paras, who works as a pharmacist, used to harass Ruby and had to pay a fine of ₹50,000 to the girl’s family to prevent them from filing a case against him a few months ago. “There is tension in the village because the Rajput community is supporting Paras,” Sunita’s husband Satyendra Kumar said.