Bareilly murder: Gang rape charges included; kingpin arrested from Uttarakhand

Bareilly: In a sensational revelation, police are learnt to have filed a case under POCSO Act and have included charges of gang rape in the brutal murder of four members of the Sethi family at their home in September last year. The alleged kingpin of the gang behind the crime, Asad, who was on the run since the incident, was arrested from

Uttarakhand

by the special task force (STF) on Sunday.

“Viscera samples of the victims were preserved and were sent to FSL laboratory in Lucknow. Additional sections of gang rape were added in April this year after the report indicated that Naresh Sethi’s wife Shikha and their daughter Aastha were raped,” SSP

Jogendra Kumar

told TOI.

City-based trader Naresh Sethi, along with his wife and two children were brutally murdered on the intervening night of September 27-28 last year. Their bodies were found lying in a pool of blood by police after their neighbours complained of foul smell emanating from their house. The incident had sent shock waves across the city as it was reported from a gated colony in Veer Savarkar Nagar under Izzatnagar police jurisdiction.

In another significant development, one of the main accused, Asad, who was on the run since the incident, was arrested from Uttarakhand on Sunday. Asad was carrying a reward of Rs 15,000 on his head and was arrested after a specific tip-off was received by STF. “He had been working as a helper on a truck which used to carry consignments from Rajasthan to Uttarakhand. He was arrested while he was offloading material in front of a private company in Sidkul,” an STF office told TOI.

Another accused in the case,

Vishal Agarwal

, a local trader, has been out on bail since February this year. Sources said that Agarwal has sold his property in Bareilly and has moved to some other city.

Earlier, police ran into several hurdles while investigating the sensational murder case. Senior officials claim that all the accused will soon be nabbed and will be slapped with the National Security Act. “We will soon take custody of Asad. We will also slap NSA against all the accused,” SSP Jogendra Kumar added.
Apart from Agarwal and Asad, three other accused, Brijesh Gupta, Anil Rajput and Shankarlal, are currently behind bars, while one Guddu is still at large.