Three arrested over gangrape of teen girl in Tripura; name of BJP minister's son crop up
Agartala (PTI): Three people were arrested in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 16-year-old girl in Tripura's Unakoti district, the police said.
Claiming that a state minister's son was involved in the incident, the opposition Congress and the CPI(M) demanded the arrest of all the accused, while the BJP dismissed the charge.
The girl was allegedly gang-raped in a three-storey building in Kumarghat on October 19.
Based on an FIR lodged in the case, three people, including a woman, were arrested but a few others are still at large, Kumarghat Sub-divisional Police Officer Biplab Debbarma told PTI on Sunday.
In the police complaint, the survivor's mother alleged that a woman from the neighbourhood had taken the girl to the building in Kumarghat, where she was gang-raped.
The Congress sought stringent police action against those involved in the crime.
"The name of a minister's son has come up in the case. Therefore, we seek a statement from Chief Minister Manik Saha on the issue. We demand immediate arrest of all the accused," former Congress MLA Asish Saha told reporters
CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Choudhury said that "it was disturbing" to know that the name of a minister's son has cropped up in the gangrape case.
"We demand a probe to find out the role of the minister's son. If he is an accused in the case, he must be immediately brought to the book," Choudhury said. However, the BJP rubbished the allegations as "politically motivated".
"The allegations are totally baseless and politically motivated as he (minister's son) was in Agartala when the incident took place in Kumarghat on October 19. We, too, want all accused to get arrested," BJP's Unakoti district president Pabitra Chandra Debnath said.
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Police arrested Kejriwal's aide at same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard: Atishi
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Saturday that the city police arrested Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar at the same time his anticipatory bail plea was being heard in court.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, officials said.
He was picked up from the chief minister's residence by a Delhi Police team around noon, a senior officer said.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said Kumar had filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Tis Hazari court.
Kumar was picked up for questioning by the Delhi Police around 11 am. As soon as he was taken for questioning, news channels started saying he had been arrested, she claimed.
"This shows the BJP's conspiracy. Their intention is to disturb our election campaign and Arvind Kejriwal," she said.
Atishi said the Tis Hazari court considered Kumar's matter urgent and agreed to hear his plea on Saturday itself.
"The court commenced hearing on his plea at 3:55 pm and within 20 minutes, the Delhi Police arrested him at the Civil Lines police station. As soon as his lawyers began arguments, the police learnt that their case is weak and Kumar would get relief. So they arrested Kumar," she claimed.
Atishi alleged that when the court was dictating its order on the matter at 4:55 pm, the Delhi Police lawyer appeared through videoconferencing and said Kumar had already been arrested.
Kumar's anticipatory bail plea has become "infructuous" as he has been arrested, the court observed.
The chief minister's aide, accused of assaulting Maliwal on May 13 at Kejriwal's residence, was arrested two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station.
Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4:45 pm and informed the court that Kumar had already been arrested.
Atishi said, "Even they knew that their case was weak and if the case was heard, Bibhav Kumar would get bail. That is why tomorrow (Sunday) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead all AAP leaders and to the BJP headquarters and court arrest."
Kejriwal said he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday "so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail".
The BJP is saying they would send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail, he claimed at a press briefing, hours after Kumar was arrested.
