UP: Main accused in Bulandshahr gangrape dead due to health issues

The officials of the Bulandshahr jail on Sunday said that prime suspect Saleem Bawariya, accused in July 2016 Bulandshahr gangrape case of a 13-year-old girl and her mother, died due to health issues. According to officials, he was suffering from a prolonged kidney ailment at a government hospital. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, had filed a chargesheet against him and two others for the crime three years ago. The arrests of three persons, including Saleem, was made by the Uttar Pradesh police in August 2016. Bawaria was lodged in the district prison in Bulandshahr.

According to reports, officials at the Bulandshahr jail said that for the past five to six months, Bawariya had been suffering from several health ailments and died around 9 am on Sunday. SSP Bulandshahr, Santosh Kumar Singh, also confirmed the death of Bawariya in jail and said the proper inquiry into the death would be taken up. SP Atul Kumar Srivastava said that Bawaria recently underwent dialysis at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospital in Delhi. His condition deteriorated early Sunday morning after which he was rushed to the district hospital in Bulandshahr but he died on the way.

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The incident

In July 2016, Bawaria and his gang had waylaid a family on the highway and had raped a 13-year-old girl and her mother, after tying up all the male members of the family. The family of six was travelling on the Delhi-Kanpur highway on the intervening night of July 29 and July 30, 2016, when the incident took place. 

The police investigation centred on the Bawaria gang and it later arrested three members of the gang for the crime. The initial FIR was registered by the UP police at Kotwali Dehat and the case later got transferred to the CBI. The agency had filed a charge sheet against three accused - Saleem Bawaria, Zubair, and Sajid. Zubair and Sajid are currently lodged in Bulandshahr jail.

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