As per the police report, the incident allegedly took place in a temple premises situated in a village in Badaun. The 50-year-old victim, who worked as an Anganwadi (rural child care) worker, went to perform pooja (a worship ritual) in a temple on Sunday evening. She regularly visited the temple for the past several years since she lived in the vicinity. The temple priest, who regularly performed rituals in the temple, lived in the same area and was known to the locals.
On Sunday night, January 3rd, three men dropped the woman outside her house in a critically injured condition. She died during treatment at a district hospital.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Tuesday evening after the post-mortem examination revealed the woman sustained multiple injuries, including several in her genital area. The autopsy suggested the three men subjected the woman to genital mutilation.
Senior superintendent of Budaun police, Sankalp Sharma, said, "We received information on Tuesday after a family alleged that a woman had been gang-raped by three men, which later led to her death ... The priest and his aides are missing. We have registered an FIR against them. We have deployed multiple teams to nab the accused."
The temple priest, the primary suspect in the gang-rape case, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoted the district Magistrate, Kumar Prashant, as saying, "On Thursday midnight, the priest, Satya Narayan, was hiding in the house of his follower in a village under Ughaiti police station from where he was picked up."
Uttar Pradesh Police have arrested the main accused in #BudaunGangrape and murder case. He had a bounty of Rs 50,000 on his head. pic.twitter.com/xPKsslUsFV
— TOIWestUP (@TOIWestUP) January 8, 2021
The horrific details of the Budaun gang-rape case have unfolded. The accused subjected the woman to Nirbhaya-like torture and inserted a rod in her genitalia. "The post-mortem reports show injuries to her private parts, there are tears, and she has a fracture on one of her legs. There was excessive bleeding, and the bleeding led to shock, and that led to the patient's death. Prima facie, we found evidence of rape," Dr. Yashpal Singh, Chief Medical Officer, was quoted as saying.
Later in the night, the accused and his two aides brought the woman home in a car and told the family that she had fallen in a dry well on the premises. The husband said, "My wife was alive by then. But before we could understand anything or ask any question, they left in the car. After a few minutes, my wife succumbed to the injuries. She had multiple injuries, including those on private parts."
