Lucknow: A 22-year-old man, wanted by police for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl, shot dead the victim early on Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district, officers said, adding that they are now searching for the absconding accused.
According to police, at approximately one o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, the accused entered the victim’s house through the back door and shot the girl twice – one in the head and the other in the neck – while she was sleeping next to her brother.
The accused also assaulted and threatened the brother. When the girl’s mother, who was sleeping outside, confronted the attacker, he also shot her but missed.
Shyamakant, Additional Superintendent of Police, Basti, said the family has identified the accused and teams have been formed to nab him.
“The man, a resident of the same village as the victim, had drugged and raped the girl in December last year and took photographs and produced videos of the act, threatening to publish them. He even posted some of them on social media on December 16. The family then lodged a complaint and the police registered an FIR on December 17 against the accused at Kalwari police station under the POCSO Act and IT Act. The accused has been on the run since then,” Shyamakant said.
The girl’s father worked in Punjab while she was living with her mother and brother, and was preparing for UP Board exams, police added.
