Hathras gang rape case: CBI takes over probe, files FIR against one of the accused

The CBI on Sunday early morning registered an FIR and took over the investigations into the alleged gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras.

The registration of the case by the CBI came hours after the Centre issued a notification handing over the case to the agency on the request by the UP government to probe rape, murder and atrocity and "any attempt, abetment and/or conspiracy, in relation to or in connection with such offence(s) and/or for any other offence committed in the course of the same transaction or arising out of the same facts".

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"The CBI today registered a case against an accused and took over the investigation of the case, earlier registered vide CC no- 136/2020 at Police Station Chandpa, District- Hathras (Uttar Pradesh) on a complaint. The complainant had alleged that on 14.09.2020, the accused tried to strangulate his sister in the Millet field. A team has been constituted. The investigation is continuing," CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said.

The FIR mentions IPC sections related to rape, 376-D which deals with gang-rape and 302 for murder and sections of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act among others.

The case has been assigned to the Ghaziabad unit with a special team to investigate the case in which the girl was allegedly gang-raped allegedly by four men on September 14. She succumbed to severe assault injuries at a Delhi hospital in late September, leading to a hushed up cremation in the wee hours by the district administration.

The state government decided to hand over the case to the CBI following public outrage over the incident.

Also Read | Yogi, his police say no one was raped because for them she was 'no one': Rahul Gandhi on Hathras case

On Sunday, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi continued his attack on the Yogi Adityanath government over the incident. "The shameful truth is many Indians don’t consider Dalits, Muslims and Tribals to be human. The CM and his police say no one was raped because for them, and many other Indians, she was NO ONE," he tweeted tagging a media report, which asked why police were denying rape when the woman had repeatedly reported that she was raped.