The Haryana police on Monday arrested eight men who have confessed to sexually assaulting the mentally challenged Nepalese woman and killing her, according to latest reports.
The police had on Sunday said it found "vital clues" during the investigation of brutal assault, gangrape and murder of the woman in Rohtak district.
Haryana ADGP (law and order) Mohammed Akil met special investigation team members and other senior police officers on Monday and said, "We have got vital clues and soon we will arrest the culprits".
Akil refused to share details of the police's findings but said that the woman had gone out of her sister's house alone on Sunday when the accused found her and committed the "brutal crime".
The 28-year-old went missing on 1 February and her mutilated and decomposing body was found three days after on 3 February from a field at Akbarpur village on the Rohtak-Hisar highway. Her body was found half-naked with face eaten by wild animals by the caretaker of the fields, who informed the police.
The doctors, who conducted a five-hour long autopsy, said the lungs and heart were missing from her body. They also found stones in her anus and said that the woman was assaulted with 16 cm long asbestos sheet.
The post-mortem report suggested that the woman died of damage to the brain and rupture of vagina, rectum and anus. She was attacked with a heavy blunt object on the head. The report also showed that she had suffered the injuries before her death and the "visible signs of struggle" indicated she was raped "by multiple persons".
"There was a foul smell emanating from the body. Two stones had been used to brutalise her private parts. We also found a condom inside her private parts. In all, there were nine injuries on her body," The Indian Express quoted Head of Forensic Medicine at PGIMS Dr S K Dhattarwal as saying.
Dhattarwal, who conducted the autopsy added, "Her scalp had been ripped apart, and her thighs and chest had contusions (suggestive of struggle), which indicate sexual assault. Her uterus, abdomen and intestines were torn, which indicates that the rape was by multiple persons."
The victim, who was staying with her sister in Rohtak for the last three months, was mentally challenged and was undergoing treatment at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS).
Sister complains of police inaction for three days
The victim's sister, who works as domestic help, said that the police did not take any action for three days until the body was found by a villager on Wednesday.
"If this was a case of a woman from higher strata of society, the police would have acted immediately. Is it because we are poor that the police refused to act?" the sister said.
Clarifying on the allegations, Rohtak SP Shashank Anand said, "The family is upset. We cannot comment on what they allege. We would like to point out that a case of kidnapping was registered the day the family approached us".
Several rights activists, residents of Rohtak and victim's family held a candlelight vigil protesting the delay in investigation and demanding immediate arrest of the accused.
