Police in Balrampur said on Thursday that they had arrested two persons for allegedly raping and murdering a 22-year-old Dalit woman.
While local reports claimed that the woman’s body was battered, police denied this. “Some media channels are playing the news that her back and hands and legs were broken. This has not been ascertained in the post mortem,” Balrampur SP Dev Ranjan Verma said. However, a further probe into the matter was on, he said.
The woman’s mother also claimed that her back and legs were broken. “She didn’t have energy left to even stand or talk,” she told local reporters.
According to the police, the woman’s family said she did not return from her work in a private firm till late in the evening on September 29. Then at around 7 p.m. she came home in a rickshaw. She had a vigo installed on her wrist for administering glucose. She was in pretty bad condition, said Mr. Verma.
The family rushed her to a hospital, but she died on the way, said the officer.
The family said the two accused took their daughter to a doctor for treatment and then raped her, said the officer. Why she was taken to the doctor is not clear.
In his complaint, the victim’s brother alleges that she was “kidnapped” by the accused, taken to their room and gang raped.
A case of gang rape and murder has been filed, and both the persons named as accused by the girl’s brother have been arrested, said Mr. Verma. They were identified as Shahid and Sahil.
The police are yet to ascertain the cause of death.