Topper gangrape: police question people but no arrests yet
Chandigarh, Sep 15 : The Haryana Police on Saturday detained two persons for questioning in the gangrape of a 19-year-old board examination topper in Mahendragarh district.
Special Investigating Team (SIT) chief Nazneen Bhasin told media in Rewari that the rape of the young woman had been confirmed in the medical examination.
However, the three accused in the gang-rape case continued to evade the police, 85 hours after the incident.
The accused include a serving Armyman Pankaj, and two other youth, Manish and Nishu. All belong to Kanina village.
The police said it had detained a local medical practitioner, who was called by the accused youth when the condition of the rape victim deteriorated on Wednesday (September 12) after she had been sexually assaulted.
Police officials said that the medical practitioner gave the victim first aid after he was threatened by the accused.
The police has also detained and is questioning a local farmer, Dayanand. It was the room in the agricultural fields owned by the farmer that the accused allegedly gangraped the victim.
The Haryana Police has drawn flak for not being able to arrest any of the accused even after three days of the incident.
State Director General of Police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu said on Saturday that the accused would be arrested soon.
"One of the accused, Pankaj Fauji, is with the Army and is supposed to report for duty. We have sent teams to nab him," Sandhu told media.
Pankaj is with an Army unit posted at Kota in neighbouring Rajasthan. He got married last year.
Though the victim initially told the police that she was allegedly gang-raped by three men, her father claimed that she had seen eight to 10 men around her when she regained consciousness following the gangrape on Wednesday near Kanina village, around 350 km from here.
The victim, who has identified her attackers, and her parents had said earlier that the police were not taking action in the matter and were dealing with it casually.
The accused, who belong to the same village as the victim and knew her, allegedly kidnapped the victim from Kanina bus stand while she was on her way for coaching classes.
She said they gave her water to drink which was laced with a sedative. They then took turns raping her in a room adjoining agricultural fields till she fell unconscious.
They later dumped her at a bus stop near the village. One accused, Manish, even called up the victim's father and told him to pick her from the bus stand.
The victim, a second year student in a college, topped the board examination and was felicitated by the government.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
In phone call, PM Modi, US President Trump resolve to promote global peace, security
New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership between India and US and advance global peace and security in their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration last week.
Modi and Trump exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and deliberated on measures to boost bilateral cooperation in areas such as technology, trade, investment, energy and defence, an Indian readout said.
The two leaders agreed to meet soon, it said.
"Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS.
Congratulated him on his historic second term," Modi said on 'X'.
"We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," he said.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the two leaders "reaffirmed" their commitment for a "mutually beneficial and trusted partnership".
"They discussed various facets of the wide-ranging bilateral Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and measures to advance it, including in the areas of technology, trade, investment, energy and defence," it said.
"The two leaders exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and reiterated their commitment to work together for promoting global peace, prosperity and security," the PMO said.
"The leaders agreed to remain in touch and meet soon at an early mutually convenient date," it added.
It is not immediately known whether the issues of immigration and tariff figured in the talks.
Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the Trump administration's approach on immigration and tariff.
President Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India too.
It is learnt that the phone call was initiated from the Indian side.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that India is looking for "bolder, bigger and a more ambitious" relationship with the US and indicated its readiness to work with the Trump administration to address issues like illegal immigration and trade.
The phone conversation between Modi and Trump came six days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held separate meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in Washington.
Jaishankar also attended the Quad foreign ministers' meeting in the American capital. The meeting was the Trump administration's first foreign policy engagement.
At a media briefing in Washington on January 22, Jaishankar said his meetings signalled that the Trump administration "prioritising" the bilateral relationship with India.
The external affairs minister also said that there was agreement between the two sides about the need to be bolder, bigger, and more ambitious about the bilateral relationship.
Asked about the Trump administration's policy on tariff and immigration, Jaiswal said on Friday that India is looking at addressing issues in a constructive manner.
"Our approach has always been to address issues in a constructive manner which is in keeping with the interests of both countries," he had said at his weekly media briefing last week.
"We remain in close communication with the US administration and would like to continue to work towards strengthening our economic partnership further," he said.
India is also keen to continue cooperation under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) that was launched during the tenure of the Biden administration.
