JOIN USPolice claim Hathras victim was not raped; family seeks CBI probe
Amid the nationwide outrage, Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday claimed that the postmortem report and forensic examination of the Hathras victim did not confirm ''rape or gang rape' and that she had died owing to injury on her neck.
The family members, however, accused the police and district administration of 'pressuring' them and sought a CBI probe into the incident.
A senior police official apprehended that there was a deliberate attempt to malign the image of the state government and foment caste violence by some elements, who spread rumours that the victim was gang-raped.
''Neither the postmortem report nor the forensic examination has confirmed rape....sperm was not found in the samples,'' the official said.
''There were injury marks on her neck and cervical spine...she also had a heart attack and had infection in blood,'' he added.
The official said that some people apparently in Hathras tried to foment caste violence and deliberately twisted the facts of the case. ''We will identify such people and act against them,'' he said.
The family members, however, accused the cops and the district officials of ''pressuring '' them and obtaining their signatures on blank papers under duress.
In a video, which went viral on social media, the father of the victim was heard saying that he wanted a probe by the CBI or a sitting Supreme Court judge.
The girl, who hailed from SC community, had been brutally assaulted by four youths in Hathras district and died in the hospital. The family members alleged that she was gang-raped. The police allegedly held her family hostage and cremated the body at midnight on Tuesday.
All the four accused have been arrested.
Meanwhile, the administration in Hathras clamped section 144 in the district in a bid to prevent the opposition leaders from reaching the village of the victim.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were detained enroute Hathras and were kept at a guest house, police said.
The administration also banned entry of the media into the village, sources said.
The police claimed that the father of the victim had written a letter expressing satisfaction at the action taken by the UP government and urged the opposition not to politicise the matter.