The three arrested state govt employees are bus driver Dharmendra Kumar, 32, conductor Devendra Kumar, 52, and ticket counter cashier Rajesh Kumar Sonkar, 38. On-contract drivers Ravi Kumar, 34, and Rajpal Singh, 57, are the other accused in the case. Police seized the bus used in the crime and sent it for forensic examination.
The girl, who had run away from her home, reached Delhi’s Kashmere Gate ISBT. There, she met the driver and conductor, who offered her a ride to Dehradun and paid for her ticket. Upon reaching Dehradun, they parked the bus in a secluded area of the ISBT, where they, along with the other three men, assaulted her.
Police said the driver had planned to make her board a bus to Patiala from the Dehradun ISBT before they were spotted at a food stall at 1.30am on Tuesday by a security guard. He alerted an emergency helpline, prompting child helpline officials to rescue her and take her to a shelter home. At the time, she appeared normal and healthy. After she arrived at the shelter, officials conducted a basic medical check-up and a counselling session, where she claimed her parents had died and her remaining family had forced her out of the home.
All accused have confessed to crime, say Uttarakhand cops
Dehradun SSP Ajai Singh added, “She didn’t appear mentally sound. She was also continuously changing her statements. She once said she was from Moradabad, and at another moment, she said she belonged to Patiala. The next day, during another counselling session, she said she had been raped. Officials immediately informed police, and a team, including female officers, visited the shelter. Once she felt comfortable, she disclosed the details of the crime during the third day of counselling. Following her statement, a case was registered against unidentified suspects on Saturday.”
The police investigation, which included reviewing CCTV footage from the area, revealed that the girl was seen with one of the accused, leading to their identification and subsequent arrests. “All of them confessed to the crime during the interrogation,” Singh said.
Further investigation revealed the girl had run away from home several times before, and her parents, who are alive, were informed about the incident. They were expected to arrive in Dehradun on Sunday evening. On Sunday, Kusum Kandwal, chairperson of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Women, and Dr Geeta Khanna, chairperson of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, assessed the girl’s condition. They condemned the recent horrific incidents in Uttarakhand—the rape of a nurse in Udham Singh Nagar followed by the gang rape of a teenage girl.
“Her apparent lack of concern about the incident raises questions about whether she has experienced similar trauma before,” Khanna said.
Source Agencies
