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Sanaullah, 50, a cleric who is the main accused in alleged abduction, gangrape and forcible conversion of a 20-year-old Meerut woman, has claimed that he was admitted to Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital for a heart ailment on June 28, a day before he is accused of abducting and raping the woman near her village, Sarawa, for the first time.
In her statement before the doctors who examined her, the girl had claimed that she was first gangraped on June 29 after being abducted in a car by Sanaullah and some other men as she was returning from her college. She had further alleged that he was again gangraped between July 23 and August 2.
Meerut SSP Onkar Singh said Sanaullah, who was arrested from Meerut on Wednesday and has been sent to jail, has given a hospital admission slip dated June 28 and said that he was in the Capital for the next two-three days for treatment.
“But, police are yet to verify his claims and veracity of the hospital admission slip. The complainant had alleged that Sanaullah had raped her and forcibly converted her to Islam. He has been arrested on these charges and sent to jail,” Singh told The Indian Express.
He said the police investigation is being conducted on the basis of the FIR, the girl’s statement before the doctors at the time of her medical examination and her statement before the magistrate.
Police sources said that there are some deviations in the three versions but they will not focus on them.
Police arrested the eighth accused in the case on Thursday. Singh said the arrested accused, Hasib Raji, had accompanied Sanaullah when the woman was allegedly taken to sign an affidavit regarding her conversion.
Police have arrested four persons named in the FIR — Sanaullah, village pradhan Nawab, Sanaullha’s wife Samar Jahan and the complainant’s friend Nishat, as well as four persons whose names cropped up in the police investigation, Gul Sanawwar, Kalim, Vakil and Hasib Raji.
Sources said the police are also looking into the role of a youth, Shanu, who was accused by the girl of rape in her statement before the magistrate, and Naveen who allegedly helped in procuring the fake affidavit for conversion.
In Lucknow, Secretary (Home) Kamal Saksena and IG (Law and Order) Amrendra Sengar declined to comment on the role of Sanaullah, saying that they were yet to get details about it.
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