Hathras crime scene to be recreated to find ‘missing links’; victim’s kin to be present

The Uttar Pradesh police will recreate the crime scene in the Hathras gang-rape case to find the “missing links” amid contrasting statements from the family of the 19-year-old Dalit victim’s family and the versions offered by other villagers, said senior police officials privy to the investigation.

The 19-year-old Dalit victim was injured in the brutal attack after she was allegedly gang-raped by upper caste youths on September 14. She succumbed to her injuries at a Delhi hospital on September 29.

A senior police official said the investigators are trying to collect all possible evidence related to the crime. He further said they (investigators) have decided to recreate the crime scene in different ways as the statements of the family and other witnesses are quite different.

Another official, requesting anonymity, said the investigators have found four sickles and a slipper from the crime scene in a ‘bajra’ field near the victim’s house. He said it suggests that there were at least four people who were cutting crops and may have been eyewitness to the entire episode.

The statement of the victim’s mother and brother, the officer said, will be recorded in detail to recreate the sequence of events in their presence. He said although the state government has already recommended a CBI probe into the case, but police investigators are trying to collect all details related to the crime and it will be handed over to the CBI when it takes over the case.

5 police officers suspended

Meanwhile, the three-member SIT recorded the statement of several witnesses on Friday. On the basis of SIT’s preliminary report earlier, the state government suspended five police officers, including the then Hathras superintendent of police Vikrant Vir, earlier.

The SIT comprising secretary (home) Bhagwan Swaroop Srivastava, deputy inspector general of police Chandra Prakash and commandant, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), Agra, Poonam (goes by one name).