Hathras Horror: SIT records victim's family's statement; arrives after Yogi recommends CBI

The 3-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the horrifying Hathras incident arrived at the victim’s residence on Sunday morning to record the statements of her family. This comes after the case was recommended to the CBI by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The SIT has assured that it will share the details regarding the investigation soon after speaking to the victim’s family. The team had been given seven days’ time to send a report on the Hathras gangrape to the authorities. The SIT tried recording the statement of the victim’s family but her father was not in the state to speak, it said.

Cracking down on negligent police officers, UP CM Yogi Adityanath suspended five police officers - district's Police Superintendent (SP) Vikrant Vir, Commanding officer Ram Shabd, Inspector Dinesh Kumar Verma, Sub Inspector Jagveer Singh, and Head Constable Mahesh Pal based on the preliminary report submitted by the SIT on Friday - allegedly for the 'midnight funeral'. Moreover, all officers involved in the case will have to undertake narco and polygraph tests, as ordered by the Chief Minister.

READ | Hathras Horror: CM Yogi Adityanath Vows To 'set An Example' With Strict Punishment

READ | UP CM Yogi Adityanath Recommends CBI Probe Into Hathras Case Amid Nationwide Outrage

In the latest development, CM Yogi has also recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case. The 19-year-old Dalit woman succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday. It was said from the beginning that she was gangraped, for which 4 people were arrested. The victim's family's complaint and her mother in a video don't state rape, however, following which the autopsy also concurred. Ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh, a house along with a government job to one family member has been announced, though there is enormous outrage over the entire matter the true nature of which remains shrouded in mystery, especially in light of the mid-night funeral that was carried out. 

READ | Hathras Victim's Brother Demands DM's Resignation: 'We Were Locked At Home For 2 Days'

Hathras Tapes:

Republic TV on Friday accessed two tapes that are also doing rounds on social media of a conversation between alleged Congress intermediaries and persons close to the victim's family. One conversation purports the alleged Congress middleman tutoring the family's close friend to tell Congress Uttar Pradesh General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi that the authorities were pressurizing them to accept the ex-gratia amount.

In the second tape, another alleged Congress tout is heard telling someone close to the family not to accept the Rs.25 lakh compensation being offered by the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government saying that someone will give Rs 50 lakh, and adding that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is coming on foot to meet the kin of the victim

Republic TV on Saturday, has accessed a third tape of an undated recorded conversation allegedly between a journalist and a person close to the family, seemingly advising the kin to 'keep all their testimonies same'. The journalist also tells the family friend to tell that they could not see the victim's body and the police acted as per their own wishes