Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on a visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on Friday, directed the top police officials to ensure a crackdown on the ‘sex racket’ and strictest possible action against the culprits in the gangrape episode that shocked the city and the nation, days ago.
PM Modi, who arrived in the city on Friday, marking 50th visit to his Parliamentary constituency, was seen speaking separately to Varanasi Police Commissioner, Divisional Commissioner, and District Magistrate regarding the recent gangrape incident in the city.
The top officers gave a detailed briefing to the Prime Minister about investigation and arrests in the case. PM Modi instructed them to take the strictest possible action against culprits and also asked them to implement appropriate measures to prevent such incidents in the future. During his Varanasi visit, PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 44 development projects collectively valued at Rs 3,880 crore.
The temple city hogged national attention after reports emerged that a 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped by about 23 men for a period of six days. The woman was reportedly drugged, taken to different hotels in the city, and violated by these men. Varanasi Police have arrested nine persons so far, and a manhunt is underway for nabbing other rapists.
According to the victim’s statement, twelve of these accused were known to her, while 11 perpetrators are unknown to her. Police are grilling the arrested accused and questioning them, as they had a similar brush with the law in 2022 also, over charges of running a sex racket in the name of spa centre.
The case came to light after the victim’s father filed a complaint with the police about his missing daughter. According to ACP Cantonment Vidush Saxena, the woman had gone out with some youths on March 29 but didn’t return, following which the family filed a missing report on April 4.
A total of nine individuals named Sajid, Suhail Sheikh, Danish Ali, Imran Ahmed, Shabbir Alam alias Sameer Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Raj Vishwakarma, Ayush Dhoosia, and Anmol Gupta have been arrested in the case so far. They were all produced in the court and sent to jail.
