Hathras gang rape case | CBI team inspects crime spot

The team, which reached the crime scene in Bulgarhi village on Tuesday morning after registering the FIR two days back, took the brother of the victim to record his statement

A CBI team on October 13, 2020 inspects the spot where the Hathras gang rape victim was cremated on September 30, 2020.

The Central Bureau of Investigation team probing the alleged gang-rape and the murder of a Dalit woman visited the crime scene in Boolgarhi village in Hathras on Tuesday, and took the elder brother of the victim with them, possibly for questioning at the camp office in Hathras.

In a related development, a Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Mathura granted permission to Enforcement Directorate officials to question the four alleged Popular Front of India members who were arrested last week near Maant toll plaza when they were on their way to Hathras.

According to local sources, the team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Seema Pahuja visited the crime spot and measured its distance from the village road. After that, the officials checked the cremation spot where the victim was allegedly burnt by officials in the early hours of September 30 without the consent of family members.

The team also questioned the family members separately, and later took with it the elder brother of the victim, who accompanied his sister to Chandpa police station after the alleged assault on September 14 and lodged the complaint. Sources said the team spent the maximum time in the questioning the elder brother, both in the millet fields and the cremation spot .

The younger brother of the victim told reporters that they had been told he (the older brother) would be sent back soon, but it was not clear where he had been taken. He said officials asked general questions such as where each of the family members had been at the time of the incident.

On Tuesday, the mother of the victim felt unwell and taken to a hospital for a check-up by local officials.

The family members had returned to the village late on Monday night after a hearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.

Vineet Jaiswal, Superintendent of Police, Hathras said the district administration had made arrangements for the stay of CBI officials in Hathras during the period of their investigation. He refused to comment on where the victim’s brother would have been taken. “We have handed over all the documents related to the case to the CBI,” he said.