Haryana: Railway employee among 2 held in gang-rape case

Chandigarh: Two men, including a railway employee, have been arrested for the alleged gang-rape of a 35-year-old woman from Haryana's Panipat in an empty coach of a stationary train, a GRP officer said on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Bhajan, a railway technician at the Kurukshetra station, and Shivam from Kurukshetra. Three theft cases are lodged against Shivam.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) officer said the victim was allegedly raped by the two accused at the Kurukshetra railway station -- a fact that came to the fore following an investigation.

Earlier, it was stated that the crime was committed at the Panipat railway station.

Panipat GRP Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Kumar said police have made a breakthrough in the case with the arrest of the two men.

He added that the accused will be questioned to find out if more people were involved in the case.

The officer said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to crack the case. He said police arrested the accused after going through CCTV footage collected from highways and cities from Sonipat to Kurukshetra.

According to a police complaint submitted by the victim's husband, the woman had gone missing after she left her Panipat home on June 24. The missing complaint was filed on June 26.

The victim lost a leg when a train went over her after she was allegedly raped and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Rohtak.

Police had earlier said the woman told them she was sitting at a nearby railway station on the night of June 24 when a man, claiming to have been sent by her husband, approached her.

She had said the man took her to an empty coach of a stationary train and raped her.

"Later, two other men joined him and they too raped her," Shri Niwas, the SHO of the Quilla police station, had said earlier.

The Quilla police station filed a Zero FIR in connection with the incident and subsequently, forwarded it to the Panipat GRP for further action.