Stripping of villagers: police say no rape, panchayat member in ‘dock’

However, after the arrest of alleged culprit Mahendra, who turned out to be a resident of the same village, the police have ruled out the possibility of rape. “The post-mortem report revealed intercourse but as there were no struggle marks on her body, we were always unsure.

However, now we know for sure that she was not raped but murdered for money,” said investigating officer Rajendra Tyagi on Monday.

Geeta was found dead on September 8 and preliminary investigations and the post-mortem report made the police believe that it might be a case of rape and murder. When the men were ordered to be stripped by the panchayat, 20-year-old Mahendra was not present in the village.

This raised the suspicion against him. Tyagi said Mahendra was arrested from Jodhpur and brought to Ajmer on Sunday.

“He claims that he was sleeping on a hillock when Geeta approached him to enquire about her missing goat. He realised that she had some money with her and in an attempt to snatch it from her, he unintentionally attacked her with an axe and killed her,” Tyagi said.

Meanwhile, Geeta’s family has now accused a village head, also a panchayat member, Tara Rawat, to have shielded his nephew Mahendra. Rawat is one of the most active members in the panchayat and a party to the stripping episode.

While Rawat declined to comment, other members said another panchayat meeting would be held to decide if he was guilty.

“We now need to confirm if he was deliberately trying to prove that it was a rape case by making everyone strip. Now we know for sure that it was not so, hence we will look into the matter,” said a member of the panchayat.