A 50-year-old woman was brutally gangraped and murdered by allegedly three people, including a priest, in the Budaun district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.
The police arrested two of them on Tuesday, while all three of the accused have been booked under respective provisions.
The brutal attack on the woman took place on Sunday when she had gone to a temple.
“They brought her on their own in a vehicle. She was dead when they left her here. The priest and others dropped her at the door and left quickly,” her son was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Before family members could ask how she died, the accused left the house saying that she had fallen in a dry well, and her body was pulled out and brought to her home, the son added.
He said police were informed on Monday.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sankalp Sharma said “The post-mortem report confirms rape, and there are injuries in her private parts and a fracture in the leg”.
He added that the station house officer of Ughaiti police station has been suspended for laxity in the case.
Giving out details, he said, “On Sunday, the 50-year-old woman, who had gone to a temple, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Family members of the woman have accused the temple mahant and his aides of raping and murdering her.”
“Based on this, a case was registered against the accused. Two of the accused persons were arrested on Tuesday night, while the mahant is still absconding,” he added.
Four teams have been formed to nab the priest, the SSP said.
According to NDTV, a video of the accused priest came into view on Monday, where he claimed that the woman had fallen into a well near the temple and he and a few others had rescued her.
“I brought two men to rescue her. We took her out of the well. She was alive. When we dropped her home, she was alive,” he claimed.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government, alleging that there was something wrong in the intentions of the Uttar Pradesh administration on the issue of women's security.
Tagging a media report, Gandhi tweeted: “In Hathras, the government administration did not listen to the voice of those pleading. The government saved officials and suppressed the victim's voice.”
“In Budaun, the police station officer did not listen to the one pleading and did not even examine the place of the incident. There is something wrong in the UP government's intentions on women's security,” she added.
Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the incident “horrific” and “shameful for humanity”.
“How many more Nirbhayas? How much more of this monstrosity (haivaniyat)? When will the Adityanath government wake up? Where are our awakened journalists,” he said in a tweet in a hindi.
Taking to Twitter, Samajwadi Party said, “Fifty-year-old anganwadi assistant, who had gone to offer prayers at a temple in Budaun, gang-raped and subsequently murdered. Those in power who only make false claims of women security should drown themselves. The guilty should be punished at the earliest, and justice should prevail.”