The Rajasthan Police have announced a Rs. 1 lakh reward for information on Ajit Singh, alias Jitaram Choudhary, the main accused in the Japanese tourist rape case.
D.C. Jain, Inspector-General (Jaipur range), said several teams had been sent out to trace Ajit Singh. The police said he had raped the 20-year-old tourist on the outskirts of Jaipur on Sunday night and was planning to gang-rape her along with his friends when she managed to escape.
Ajit Singh’s two friends and five relatives who had helped him escape from the city have been arrested. Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of those in a car who tried to drag her in when the victim tried to seek help.
The former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot expressed concern over the rape, and said it had dented the image of the city.
In a statement here, Mr. Gehlot said that in the 13 months the Bharatiya Janata Party had been in power, the incidence of rape had gone up with over 4,000 rapes cases reported during the period. Quoting State Crime Records Bureau figures, Mr. Gehlot said women of all age groups — from children to the elderly women — had been victims of sexual assaults. “This is unfortunate, particularly in a State headed by a woman who always speaks of women’s empowerment,” he said. She had not had the time to hold even one meeting to discuss the matter, he added.
