3 held for raping woman in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur
Police identified the arrested men as Ankit Tomar, 26, and Akash Tomar, 21, her two fellow passengers in the auto, and Aakil, 27, the driver of the auto, which the 30-year-old woman had boarded from Lal Kuan intersection in Ghaziabad to go home to Greater Noida.
The Hapur police on Saturday arrested three men for allegedly gang raping a 30-year-old woman from Greater Noida, who had boarded their auto-rickshaw late Wednesday to return home from work. Police said the arrests were made following an encounter in the Pilkhuwa area of Hapur district, and the suspects sustained gunshot wounds to their legs.
Police identified the arrested men as Ankit Tomar, 26, and Akash Tomar, 21, her two fellow passengers in the auto, and Aakil, 27, the driver of the auto, which the 30-year-old woman had boarded from Lal Kuan intersection in Ghaziabad to go home to Greater Noida.
Additional superintendent of police (Hapur) Sarvesh Mishra said the suspects belong to Galandpur village.
He said the police identified the auto-rickshaw and suspects based on a tip-off from local informants.
The woman had told the police the three men forcefully taken her in the auto to Hapur, to an isolated spot, where they took turns to rape her.
A police team pursued the suspects around 5am, after spotting them in the auto-rickshaw near a dental college on NH-24. They fired at the police team when asked to stop. In the exchange of fire, they sustained bullet injuries to their legs, police said.
Mishra said during interrogation, the suspects admitted to a prior gang-rape as well — of a girl whom they had abducted in their auto almost a month ago. They also admitted that they followed the same pattern with the woman on Wednesday night.
“The first victim didn’t report the incident to the police. Ankit Tomar was sent to jail in 2013 in a rape case,” Mishra said.