In a tragic incident, a college student, who was allegedly gang raped last year, succumbed to medical complications, a little over a month after delivering a stillborn child. The police said that they have arrested two of the four accused, while the other two are on the run.
The gang rape complaint was registered by the victim with Ramol police on March 19, eight months after she was allegedly gang raped several times, and three weeks after she delivered a stillborn child in LG Hospital on February 26. She passed away late on Thursday night because of medical complications, according to doctors.
On Friday, police arrested two of the four accused in the case. "We have arrested Chirag Vaghela and Ankit Parekh for raping the victim. Two other accused - Hardik Shukla and Raj – are yet to be arrested," Zone 5 DCP Akshayraj Makwana, told reporters.
Chirag is a resident of Janta nagar in Ramol, while Ankit, a resident of Sarkhej, works as a clerk in Gujarat University, and is also associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of BJP.
While the victim's death is a definite setback for the case, police are banking on DNA test reports to ensure the guilty are punished.
"We exhumed body of the stillborn child to collect DNA samples. DNA sampling of the accused will be undertaken to determine the child's paternity," he said.
With Hardik out of their reach, DNA samples of his parents were collected. "The test reports are awaited," he said. Earlier in the day, the victim's father alleged before reporters that police investigation in the case was very slow, and not even one of the accused had been arrested even a month after the complaint was registered.
Makwana, however, said that arrests had taken time since they did not even know the full names of the accused. "The victim had revealed only the first names of the accused persons, and was not in a proper mental shape to give us more details, and hence the arrests took time," he clarified.
As per the complaint, the 20-year-old victim had failed in two subjects in her second year B. Com exams, and the accused won her trust by assuring her help to clear the ATKT (allowed to keep term) exams. They took her to various places under the pretext of meeting different people, and allegedly gang raped her on several occasions.
The victim's father said that they learnt about the rape only when the pregnancy was detected.
CASE FILE
- The gang rape complaint was registered by the victim with Ramol police on March 19, eight months after she was allegedly gang raped several times
- She passed away late on Thursday night because of medical complications, according to doctors.
- On Friday, police arrested two of the four accused in the case
- The victim was an adopted child. Her father said that they wanted to raise a girl, and had adopted her from Vadodara.
