A week after the Yogi Adityanath government has proposed the handover of the Hathras investigation case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the central agency has finally taken charge of the case.
CBI, on Sunday, October 11, registered an FIR against the accused. CBI informed that the FIR is registered against the accused Sandip Singh under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 307 for an attempt to murder, 302 for murder, and 376-D for gang rape. Besides, section 3 of the SC/ST Act for atrocities against a scheduled caste woman has also been included in the FIR.
As per the sources, CBI has appointed Seema Pahuja, Deputy Superintendent of Police, to lead the Hathras investigation.
Eventually, the CBI team has reached Hathras and is soon expected to investigate the crime scene. A team of forensic experts has also accompanied the core investigation team. The CBI is also interacting with the UP Police SIT to collect the evidence and other details related to the case. A three-member Special Investigation Team was leading the investigation in the Hathras case before the CBI.
The Hathras case started with an FIR lodged on September 14 on the complaint of the 19-years old girl’s brother at Chandpa police station of Hathras. The complainant had mentioned in the FIR that the accused tried to strangle his sister in a millet field. Later the charges of murder and gang-rape by four upper caste men were added in the FIR after the woman had later succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a Delhi hospital on September 29.
It is alleged that the victim’s family added the charges of rape and murder under the political influence as the same was not mentioned in the first FIR. All the political parties tried to gain political mileage from the case and provoked a caste-based outrage in the city. Later, the role of Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamic extremist group, was also identified. The state government had alleged the protests were part of an ‘international conspiracy’ to incite caste-based violence.
