Panipat gangrape, murder cases: SIT formed; Congress, AAP attack Khattar govt over law and order

A three-member Special Investigation Team was set up on Friday to investigate the alleged gangrape of three women and the murder of another, possibly by the same gang, in Haryana's Panipat.

Multiple police teams have been formed to arrest the absconding accused.

Opposition parties slammed the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government over the Panipat incidents, with the Congress and the AAP claiming that the state's law-and-order situation has worsened and women are not safe even inside their homes.

''A three-member SIT (Special Investigation Team) headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Panipat) Krishan Kumar has been formed to investigate both the cases,'' a police official from Panipat said.

Fifteen police teams, comprising nearly 150 personnel, have been constituted in connection with the cases and to ensure that the accused are arrested at the earliest, he said.

Inspector General of Police (Karnal Range) Satender Kumar Gupta and Deputy Inspector General of Police Naazneen Bhasin on Friday visited Panipat and the area where the incidents occurred, he added.

The gangrape took place in a village farmhouse in Panipat in the early hours of Thursday. An Uttar Pradesh resident told the police that he, along with his family, some relatives and their families, had been living in huts there for several months.

The complainant said four masked men carrying weapons forced their way into the house when they were sleeping. Before raping the three women labourers, the accused used ropes to tie up their family members.

The accused also robbed their cash and jewellery, the police said earlier.

In a separate incident, which took place on the same night about a kilometre away from the spot where the first crime was committed, an ailing woman was attacked, leading to her death, while her husband was robbed, the police said.

''The accused are still at large. Investigations are underway,'' Matlauda SHO Vijay had said earlier in the day.

Senior Congress leader Kumari Selja alleged that women are not safe in their own homes in Haryana.

''There is no fear of law among criminals. Khattar saheb, what kind of law and order is this?'' the former Union minister said in post in Hindi on X.

She demanded that the ''monsters'' who put humanity to shame in both these incidents should be arrested immediately and given strict punishment.

AAP leader Anurag Dhanda also hit out at the Khattar government.

''A gang comes and for the entire night they go on a rampage. And police are clueless. This shows the law and order situation in the state,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)