5 accused charged with rape, murder in ‘Unnao shame’

LUCKNOW: UP Police on Wednesday filed murder and common intention charges against the five men accused of setting ablaze a 23-year-old rape survivor from Unnao on the morning of December 5.
The chargesheet is based on the woman’s dying declaration and the statements of witnesses to the attack on her at a place under the jurisdiction of Bihar police station in Unnao district.The rape survivor died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on the night of December 6. The five accused — Shubham and Shivam Trivedi, Harishankar, Umesh and Ramkishore — had allegedly poured petrol on the rape survivor to prevent her from visiting her lawyer in Rae Bareli, the police said. The accused are in Tihar Jail.
‘Case prepared on electronic evidence’
“W e have prepared the case on the basis of electronic evidence and the statements of the villagers who took the survivor to hospital. The mobile phone location of the accused on that morning places them at the crime spot. Forensic evidence also establishes their role in the crime,” Unnao SP Vikrant Vir told TOI. He said the petrol used to set the woman ablaze had been siphoned off Shubham’s bike. The DNA and blood reports of the accused are awaited.
The woman had been allegedly gangraped by Shubham and Shivam in December 2018. The FIR was lodged in March 2019. In its chargesheet against the two accused, filed on December 10, Rae Bareli police charged them with gang-rape, destruction of evidence and repeated rape.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)