The men who allegedly assaulted two young Army officers and raped one of their two women friends near Mhow in Madhya Pradesh in the early hours of Wednesday would roam the area on motorcycles looking for people they could rob, officers investigating the case have told The Indian Express. The men had also threatened to kill the victims if they did not pay them Rs 10 lakh, investigators said.
Police said they are facing a conundrum as the woman who was allegedly raped has refused to record her statement.
The FIR has been filed based on a complaint by one of the Army officers, who stated, “They misbehaved with the woman, and I suspect something wrong was done to her.”
“She only keeps telling us one thing – shoot the accused or shoot me. We understand she is in shock. We are trying our best to arrest the men who did this,” said a senior officer who tried multiple times to convince the woman to record her statement.
Indore Rural Superintendent of Police Hitika Vasal told The Indian Express, “She is not comfortable registering her statement. We will wait until she recovers. We have arrested three persons – Anil, Pawan and Ritesh. Ritesh was acquitted in a murder case in 2019. The remaining three accused will be arrested soon.”
According to the FIR, the two young Army officers and their two friends went to the Army’s firing range near Jam Gate at 11 pm. They exited their vehicle and were sitting at an isolated spot when “seven to eight unknown individuals attacked us with sticks and rods, around 2.30 am”.
“When we asked them what they wanted, one of them said, ‘We need 10 lakh rupees, or we will kill you.’ One person had a pistol, and all the assailants had their faces uncovered – they appeared to be between 20 and 35 years old,” the FIR stated.
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Police records of the three arrested men indicate that they have been involved in several cases in the past.
Anil was booked in 2016 at Manpur police station for allegedly robbing a collection executive working with a finance company. The complainant had alleged that “four unknown persons came to us on two numberless motorcycles and told me… to hand over my bag and all the belongings, else they would kill me”.
On August 18, 2021, a police team that had gone to attend to a dispute call between two families faced stone pelting from 50-60 people. Anil was among those arrested in the case. On July 1, 2024, he was booked along with eight others for allegedly uprooting 285 poles and barbed wires, which were part of a fence of a reserved forest area.
On September 28, 2021, Pawan was booked in an excise case after the police confiscated banned liquor from him.
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State prosecutor Mahendra Singh Munjalde told The Indian Express, “Both Anil and Pawan have been sent to five-day police custody. The victim’s purse had been looted, and we wanted their custody to trace it.” Ritesh, the third person arrested, will be produced in court Friday.
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP government came under Opposition fire over the law and order situation in the state.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said, “Law and order in BJP-ruled states is almost non-existent – and, the negative attitude of the BJP government towards the day-by-day increasing crimes against women is extremely worrying.”
“This audacity of the criminals is a result of the total failure of the administration and the unsafe environment prevailing in the country. Due to this, there is restriction on the freedom and aspirations of the daughters of India,” he said.
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Chief Minister Mohan Yadav defended the police and said, “On the basis of our strict action, some accused have been arrested and some more will be arrested soon. The government is very strict regarding such matters, the law will take its own course.”