Hathras Rape Case LIVE Updates: All 20 FIRs filed in connection with the rape and case case of the 19-year-old woman is set to be transferred to CBI, sources said, adding that this includes the sedition case and arrest of PFI members.
The main accused in the case was reportedly in touch with the brother of the 19-year-old till "very recently". It is said that there were at least 100 exchanges in five months between the mobile number of the main accused and another number registered in the name of the victim's brother.
A report in The Times of India stated that investigators probing the case made the claims on the basis of a call detail record (CDR), which also showed that there was five hours of exchange between the two numbers between October 2019 and March 2020. Some of the calls lasted for over a few minutes.
The TOI report stated that police are now planning to seek the response of the victim's brother to confirm it's his voice.
Facing a battering to its image, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it wanted an apex court-monitored CBI inquiry into the Hathras episode, which the SC described as horrible. The day also marked the first visit by a Union minister to the Hathras village of the 19-year-old Dalit woman who was allegedly gang-raped by four upper-caste men on September 14 and died a fortnight later at a Delhi hospital.
I and RPI workers across the country will make all possible efforts to bring justice to the family of the victim," tweeted Ramdas Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (A) and is a Dalit leader. A delegation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) also met the family, the latest in a series of visits by opposition leaders to the UP village about 150 km from the national capital.
The young woman was cremated in the middle of the night in her village and the hurried funeral allegedly without the family's consent had triggered further outrage. While raising questions about the locus of an unconnected party in a criminal case, the court observed, "We are not saying anything about the incident. The incident is horrible, shocking and extraordinary, but how can we hear identical arguments by so many lawyers."
Here are all the latest updates in Hathras rape case:
* The SIT team, which was supposed to submit the status report in the case today, has got 10 more days on the orders of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
* After questions being raised on the security of the victim's family members, metal detector gates have been installed outside their house in Hathras village. A note is also being made of the entry and exit time of all the visitors.
* At a meeting of its newly appointed national office-bearers chaired by party president J P Nadda on Tuesday, the BJP targeted the opposition, saying it takes up cases selectively. It is sad when people pick a crime looking at who is in power and which community the murderers or rapists belong to, what is the vote bank there, general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam told reporters in an apparent attack on opposition parties.
* The opposition, however, continued its attack on the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. After meeting the victim's family, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury expressed shock over the alleged gangrape and the hurried cremation.
* This sort of things are unheard of in the 21st century and are a blatant violation of the Indian Constitution and the guarantees it gives to our people," he said. The Left delegation included CPI general secretary D Raja, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat, CPI national secretary Amarjeet Kaur, CPI(M) UP state committee secretary Hiralal Yadav and CPI UP state secretary Girish Sharma.