Dalit woman's gang-rape; constable's son among four picked up

Allahabad: Four youths, including a constable?s son, were picked up by the police here today for interrogation in connection with the gangrape and murder of a young dalit woman on the outskirts of the city two days ago.

"We have picked up four youths for interrogation in connection with the brutal sexual assault and subsequent killing of 22-year-old Rita, whose body was found lying near a railway track in Dhoomanganj police station area last night", police spokesman Mrityunjay Kumar Mishra said.

He, however, declined to disclose the identity of those picked up for interrogation, saying, "It would not be appropriate to divulge names at this stage. The young men have not been formally arrested but only picked up on the basis of the feedback we got from the victim?s family members and neighbours."

A resident of Mahilagarh village under Dhoomanganj police station area, Rita had gone missing on Monday night. Her body, with hardly any clothes on and full of bruises and wounds, was recovered from near a railway crossing nearly 24 hours later.

The post-mortem report confirmed that she was strangulated after being sexually assaulted by "3-4 persons".

Meanwhile, heavy deployment of forces has been made in and around the victim?s village where the people are reportedly angry over the incident that took place at a time when pro-Dalit BSP was in power in Uttar Pradesh.