An 18-year-old boy was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the gang-rape case of a woman preacher at an ashram in Jharkhand's Godda district, police said.
He is the second person to be arrested for allegedly raping the woman at the ashram in Ranidih in Muffasil police station area, Superintendent of Police YS Ramesh told PTI.
Police had earlier arrested the main accused Deepak Rana following the intervention of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the matter.
These two persons allegedly raped the 46-year-old woman and they have confessed to the crime, Ramesh said.
Police are conducting raids to nab the other two accused, he said.
The accused scaled the wall of the ashram around 2.30 am on Tuesday, entered it and held the ascetics and preachers at gunpoint, police said.
At that time there were four women preachers and a sadhu present in the ashram.
They locked the others in a room and took turns in raping the preacher who was staying in the ashram since February, according to police.
She came to the ashram to attend a religious function but got stuck there due to the lockdown, they said.
Meanwhile, the opposition BJP has accused the Hemant Soren government of failing to handle the law and order situation in the state.
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