A minor girl was allegedly forced to drink alcohol and then raped at a VIP circuit house in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district on Monday, 28 March.
A case has been registered against three people, Vinod Pandey, Sitaram Mahant alias Samarth Tripathi, who had come to Rewa for the religious event. The third accomplice remains unidentified so far.
The main accused, Tripathi, is a disciple of former member of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and former MP, Ram Vilas Vedanti.
Tripathi, who had been on the run, has been caught from Singrauli, while he was trying to flee again.
Singrauli SP Virendra Singh Baghel told The Quint, "Rewa police asked us to help in nabbing him and we deployed our resources and caught him trying to flee after getting his hair and beard style altered. He was caught from a barber's shop in Singrauli bus stand."
Earlier, Additional Police Superintendent Shiv Kumar Verma had said that Tripathi is absconding while the third man and Pandey, who has criminal cases against him and had booked the room at the circuit house to bring the girl there, have been arrested.
Verma added, “On Monday, Pandey brought the girl from Satna as she was upset due to some personal problem and sought help from him. Pandey took him to the room, where Tripathi and two others consumed alcohol and forced the girl to consume it. Later, all the people, including Pandey, came out of the room and locked it from outside. Tripathi raped her and later called Pandey to open the gate. Pandey tried to convince the girl not to speak... [about the assault]," Hindustan Times reported.
Verma added that Tripathi was scheduled to speak on spirituality from 1 April in Satna.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)
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