Eight youths were on Monday arrested in the brutal rape and murder of a mentally challenged Nepalese woman in Rohtak and a hunt was on to nab one more accused in the case that has caused outrage and revulsion across the country.
Haryana police, which was under attack over its handling of the incident, while announcing the arrests claimed that the case has been "cracked".
DGP Yashpal Singhal, who visited the crime spot, told PTI that the arrested accused are in their twenties and appear to be criminals.
"The case has been cracked and eight youths out of total nine have been arrested from Gaddikhera village, some 9 km from Rohtak," he said.
The arrested accused include a Nepalese identified as Santosh, Singhal said.
Other accused arrested in the case were identified as Rajesh alias Ghuchadu, Sunil alias Sheela, Sarvar alias Billu, Manbir, Sunil alias Madha, Pawan, Parmod alias Padam, he said.
"The police are conducting a search for arresting the ninth accused Sheelkaraam," he said, claiming all the accused have confessed to their crime.
On the issue of alleged police apathy, the DGP said they swung into action the moment the complaint was lodged and a DSP rank officer is himself working on it.
"If, however, any lapse on the part of police officials is found, action will be taken as per law against them," the DGP said.
Talking to reporters in Surajkund, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, "though it took police nine days to round up the accused, yet it was a major achievement as it was a blind case. The police acted promptly into the incident."
"All efforts were being made to arrest the remaining accused and there is no laxity on part of the police to solve this case", he added.
The Opposition Congress used the incident to target the BJP government in the state on the law and order situation, saying it was "yet to wake up from the slumber", and demanded reconstitution of the SIT under an IG level officer to go into the horrific incident.
In a grim reminder of the December 16, 2012 gang-rape in Delhi, a 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal was brutally raped and murdered and her body dumped in a field at a village on the Rohtak-Hisar Highway.
The woman was found brutally assaulted as the post-mortem report mentions several injuries on her private parts. Stones and blades were found in her stomach, the report said.
The victim had been residing with her sister for the past three months and was undergoing treatment at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak.
The victim's sister had lodged a complaint with police on February 1 and on February 4 the woman's body was found from the fields in Akbarpur village with several injury marks on it, Rohtak Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand had said.
