Main accused in UP's Budaun gang rape arrested

The main accused in the gang rape and brutal murder of a 50-year old woman in Uttar Pradesh's Badayun district was nabbed by the police from a village around midnight on Thursday.

According to the police sources here, the accused, a priest identified as Sathya Narayan, had been hiding at the house of one of his disciples in the village after he was booked in the case. The cops raided the house around midnight and nabbed the accused. Two other accused persons in the case were already arrested.

The disciple, who had provided shelter to the priest, was also taken into custody, police said.

A case was also registered against the suspended in-charge of Ughaiti police station and a sub-inspector for being negligent, sources said.

The woman was gang raped before being brutally murdered, when she had gone to pay obeisance at a temple near the village on Monday. The postmortem report of the deceased had revealed severe injuries on her private parts, chest, arms and legs.

The accused had dumped the victim in front of her house in the village and fled from there. The family members of the victim alleged that the cops failed to reach the spot even after being informed. The body of the victim could be sent for postmortem examination only after 18 hours.

The incident, which came within months of the gang rape and murder of a teen in UP's Hathras district, triggered a nationwide outrage with the opposition parties targeting UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath over increasing crimes against the women in the state.