Varanasi,

29 April (HS): A local court on Tuesday denied one of the accused's bail

request in a recent case of suspected gangrape involving a 19-year-old woman,

according to authorities.

Additional

District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court) Kuldeep Singh refused bail to

accused Anmol Gupta, according to District Government Counsel Manoj Gupta. During

a recent visit to Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, Prime Minister Narendra

Modi inquired about the matter and asked officials to take severe and quick

action. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is now investigating the matter. The

rape survivor filed a complaint on April 6, alleging that she was gang-raped by

23 people at several places between March 29 and April 4. The police opened a

case under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 70(1)

(gangrape), 74 (assault with intent to outrage modesty), 123 (causing harm

through poison or other means), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 127(2) (wrongful

confinement), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation).

However,

in a later development, family members of the accused questioned her statements

and wrote a memorandum to the Varanasi Police Commissioner, stating that the

lady was asking money to withdraw names from the case. Following these claims,

the Police Commissioner formed a SIT to investigate the case in depth and provide

a report within 30 days. Police have detained over a dozen individuals thus

far, including Raj Vishwakarma, Sameer, Ayush, Sohail, Danish, Anmol, Sajid,

Zaheer, Imran, Zaib, Aman, and Raj Khan.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi