A special task force of the police on Friday afternoon picked up five men for questioning in connection with the gunning down of a man, gang rape of four women and alleged robbery in a field off the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Thursday. Police had detained the five for questioning on Thursday night, but let them off later.
Initially, police said, the five were questioned because one of the women told media that she had identified three of the six assailants as her neighbours. She, however, retracted the statement a day later.
The FIR that was registered on the statement of one of the men in the vehicle in which seven others, including the women, were travelling said the suspects were stranger to them and the women could recognise them.
The police came to know through media reports that the woman suspected the role of neighbours and detained the men late on Thursday night, said Jewar Police Station in charge Rajpal Tomar.
According to the police, the woman later clarified that she named the neighbour(s) out of sheer anger. With this set of neighbours, the police have figured out a property related dispute between the two families.
On the progress of the probe thus far, the police said the gangs active on the Yamuna Expressway and adjoining areas remained the prime suspects for them.
“We will get a final statement recorded before the magistrate on Saturday,” added Mr. Tomar.
Several teams are probing the incident that took place in a field alongside the road linking Jewar to Bulandhahr, barely 1.2 km off the Yamuna Expressway. A scrap dealer was shot dead and the four women were gang-raped by a group of six men . They also allegedly took away cash and jewellery
The special task force officers were not available for comments.
