Woman raped, burnt alive near temple premises

A woman was burnt alive inside a temple premises after she was raped by five persons in her house in a village in the Rajpura area in Sambhal district, police said today.

The incident took place on Saturday at about 2.30 am when the victim, about 30-years of age, was in her house with her daughter, they said.

Five persons barged into the house and raped her according to the complaint, police officials said.

The five accused later dragged her to a hut in a temple premises and burnt her alive, said Gunnaur Circle Officer Aqil Ahmad, quoting from the complaint lodged by the victim's husband.

The hut, where the woman was burnt alive, was used to perform 'yagna and havan', SHO, Rajpura, Arun Kumar told PTI.

Superintendent of Police, RM Bhardwaj, when contacted over the phone said rape could not be ascertained in the post-mortem of the victim.

"Whether she was raped or gang raped could not be ascertained in the post-mortem. Now the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Moradabad, has been asked to ascertain it and the required samples will be sent to them," he said.

In his complaint, the victim's husband alleged that after she was gang-raped, his wife called her cousin to inform about the incident but by the time the police could be contacted, the accused returned and dragged her to the hut and burnt her alive.

"We have received the audio clip of the last call of the victim," a police official said.

An FIR has been registered against five persons: Aram Singh, Mahaveer, Charan Singh, Gullu and Kumarpal, under IPC sections 376 D (gangrape), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons) and 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), a police official said.

The police have launched a manhunt to nab the accused. The victim's husband is a labourer who resides in Ghaziabad, police said.

Taking note of the incident, a sub-inspector and two constables have been sent to police lines, SP Bhardwaj said.