A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men on Tuesday, out of which two were arrested. On Thursday, one of the two died in police custody over health issues. The deceased has been identified as Shiv Shankar alias Dayashankar Chourasiya from Tadkeshwar village.
45-year-old Shiv Shankar fell ill in custody, and he was taken to Surat’s New Civil Hospital treatment. He was suffering from acute breathing problem, and was kept on a ventilator. But he succumbed to the complication of the situation during treatment at the hospital. Doctors declared him dead at around 3.50 pm on Thursday.
A post-mortem examination will be done, and the cause of the death will be confirmed after the report is out, said authorities.
The incident took place when the minor victim and her friend were passing through the outskirts of Mota Borsara village on Tuesday. They stopped midway as the two-wheeler they riding ran out of fuel. At that moment, three men, Shiv Shankar, Munna Paswan, and Raju, arrived there on a motorcycle. When they stopped and approached them, they got scared and tried to flee.
But the three men overpowered them. They thrashed and robbed the male friend of the minor girl, and took the girl to an isolated place where they brutally gang-raped her. They also snatched the phones of both the victims, and a gold chain from the girl.
They took turn in raping her, while other kept her freeing captive. But he somehow escaped and told the villagers in Mota Morsara villages about the incident. As a large number of villagers arrived at the scene, the attackers fled from the scene, and the police were informed about the case.
Police quickly launched a search operation, and located the two-wheeler used by the perpetrators with the help of a dog squad. This led to the arrest of two accused, Shiv Shankar and Munna Paswan. However, third accused Raju is still absconding.
Surat Superintendent of Police Hitesh Joyser said, “We found a bike lying abandoned near the crime spot. We took details of it from the Surat Regional Transport Office, and found it was purchased by a resident of Surat in 2005. Finally, the details of the last owner of the bike led us to the house of the accused. The Crime Branch officials also joined in the probe.”
Police arrested Shiv and Munna after a brief chase at Karanj where the three accused were living in a rented house. Both the arrested accused had criminal records, and Shiv was even facing a murder charge.
This is the second gang-rape case in Gujarat during the Navratri. In a similar case, a 16-year-old minor was allegedly gang-raped in the outskirts of Vadodara city on October 4. Police have arrested three main accused and two others in relation to the case. The five accused are identified as Munna Abbas Banjara, Mumtaz alias Aftab Banjara, Shahrukh Banjara, Saif Ali Banjara and Ajmal Banjara.
