A 35-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were gang-raped near Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh by five men for nearly three hours on Friday night.
Fifteen suspects were detained on Sunday in connection with Bulandshahr rape case, said Vaibhav Krishna, SSP. The main accused was identified.
Principal Secretary Uttar Pradesh (Home) Debasish Panda and Director General of Police, Javed Ahmed reached the scene of the crime to conduct a probe.
"In the Bulandshahr case, Principal Secretary, Home & DGP will monitor the case. They will oversee the search ops right from Ground Zero," tweeted UP government on Sunday.
The family identified the main accused and 15 police teams were dispatched to catch him, the police told the Indian Express.
The family of six, from Sector 68 Noida, was travelling to Shahjahanpur via Delhi-Kanpur National Highway 91. The group of robbers flung an object on their car, following which it had to be stopped for repairs.
The robbers then attacked the family, forced them to veer off the main road into a field at gunpoint. The mother and daughter were separated from the rest of the family and gang-raped by the five men. The men of the family were tied with ropes. One of the men managed to untie himself and reached the police by Saturday morning. The robbers also stole close to Rs. 11,000 and jewelry from the family.
"We have formed six teams, three of them headed by circle officers, to probe the case and have launched a manhunt," DIG (Meerut range) Lakshmi Singh was quoted by the Times of India. "A case has been lodged against unknown men under Sections 376 D (gang-rape), 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) and 395 (punishment for dacoity)."
There was reportedly a police post only 100 metres away from the scene of the crime.
In response to the outrage expressed by the locals, the Kotwali Dehat station officer Ram Sain Singh and night duty officer Lalit Kumar were suspended. Also, an inquiry will be initiated against circle officer (city) Himanshu Kumar.
"The modus operandi is quite similar to that employed by a tribe from Rajasthan's Hanumangarh region," said Singh. She also did not rule that it could be the handiwork of gang from Ghawana region of Aligarh.
