Zeenews Bureau
Bhopal: Six persons accused of robbing and gang-raping a 39-year-old Swiss tourist in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh (MP) on March 15 were on Monday remanded to one day police custody.
All six accused were remanded to one day police custody by the court of chief judicial magistrate RP Yadav for further interrogation and recovering more articles related to the incident.
The court order was a setback to police, which had demanded 10-day custody of the accused.
The court, while passing its order, also directed the police to produce them before it on Tuesday morning.
"There are certain articles we would like to recover from them for strengthening our case," CS Solanki, Datia Superintendent of Police was quoted as saying.
Out of the six arrested men, four have been charged with gang rape, since the other two were "only present at the crime scene". "As per the victim`s statement, she was raped by four persons," the SP said.
The 39-year-old Swiss woman, on a cycling trip along with her companion, was gang-raped at a forest area near Sewda road in Datia district on Friday night. The couple - on adventure tourism in India - decided to camp at a forest area for the night while on their way back from Orchha (temple city), and were proceeding to Agra.
Those arrested were Kanjar Baba (20), Bhutha (25), Rampro (25), Gaza alias Brijesh (25) Vishnu (25) and Nitin Kumar - all residents of Kanjar Tola settlement in Jharia village, located - 2km from the spot where the victim was raped and 8km from the district headquarters.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Chambal Range DK Arya later said that test identification parade (TIP) of the accused would be done after the Swiss couple returns to Bhopal from New Delhi where they are receiving treatment.
Blood samples of the accused and the swab slides have already been sent to the state forensic science laboratory (FSL), Sagar for detailed investigations. The case will be heard in the fast-track court, Arya said.
Earlier, the local police also seized a 12-bore gun from the six accused.
A laptop, laptop-charger, mobile phone and Rs 5,500 cash were also recovered from the accused, who looted and gang-raped the Swiss woman and her husband.
With PTI inputs
