12-year-old boy held in gang-rape case of sadhvi at Jharkhand ashram

A 12-year-old boy was held in connection with the gang-rape of a sadhvi at an ashram in Jharkhand's Godda district, police said on Friday.

He is the third person to be apprehended in the gang- rape case that happened at the ashram in Ranidih in Muffasil police station area on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police YS Ramesh told PTI.

The boy lives in the same neighbourhood and was detained on Thursday night, he said.

He was part of the group that scaled the wall of the ashram around 2.30 am on Tuesday, entered it and held the ascetics and preachers at gunpoint before the woman was allegedly gang-raped, police said.

Police had earlier arrested main accused Deepak Rana and Ashish Rana (18), following the intervention of Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the matter.

These two persons allegedly raped the 46-year-old sadhvi and have confessed to the crime, Ramesh said.

Police are conducting raids to nab the fourth accused, he said.

DNA samples from the place of the crime have been sent for forensic tests, the officer said.

The police are preparing a fool-proof case based on scientific evidence so that the accused are punished soon at a fast-track court, he said.

At the time of the incident, there were four women preachers and a sadhu present in the ashram.

They locked the others in a room and the two main accused took turns in raping the sadhvi who was staying in the ashram since February, according to police.

She came to the ashram to attend a religious function but got stuck there due to the lockdown, they said.