New Delhi, Aug. 31 -- A 16-year-old Class 11 student was allegedly gang-raped inside an empty sleeper bus after she boarded it at Greater Noida's Pari Chowk on the night of August 4, believing its driver and conductor would take her to Noida Sector 63. The two men allegedly assaulted her while the bus was moving and later abandoned her near Kashmere Gate in north Delhi, police said. The accused, identified as driver Kuldeep, 39, and conductor Sandeep, 26, were arrested from a bus parking lot in Timarpur with the help of CCTV footage.
The girl, a resident of Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, had left home after a quarrel with her mother and was travelling to Sector 63 to stay with her cousin. She told police that she mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk at around 9 pm amid heavy rain and found herself about 25 km from her destination.
As she looked for transport, the sleeper bus stopped near her. Police said Kuldeep and Sandeep told her they were going towards Sector 63 and offered her a lift. She boarded the vehicle, which was not operating as a passenger service that night.
According to investigators, the bus had developed a technical problem and had been taken to a workshop in Surajpur, Greater Noida, for repairs. The two accused reportedly collected it from the workshop around 5 pm and began travelling towards Delhi later in the evening. They allegedly picked up the girl at Pari Chowk and continued towards Kashmere Gate.
The girl alleged that inappropriate advances were made soon after she boarded the bus and that both men raped her when she resisted, threatening to kill her. Police said the bus travelled around 43 to 47 km before the girl was abandoned on Ring Road near Kashmere Gate ISBT. She then took an auto-rickshaw to the Kashmere Gate police station and reported the incident.
DCP (North) Niharika Bhatt said police acted without getting into jurisdictional issues. "Police got the victim medically examined, which confirmed rape, and registered a case," she said. The girl was later produced before the Child Welfare Committee and handed over to her father on its directions.
CCTV footage from locations along the route helped police trace the bus within a few hours. Both accused, who are residents of Kanpur, were subsequently arrested from Timarpur. Police have seized the bus, conducted potency tests on the accused and sent the vehicle for forensic examination.
Investigators said strands of the girl's hair were found inside the bus. Further forensic examination is underway. The bus reportedly had company-fitted curtains around its sleeper berths, while its CCTV system was not operational because the vehicle was under renovation. Monu, manager of Vishwanath Travels, said the bus was being taken to Kashmere Gate for painting after repair work. "We didn't know what happened that day. We learned through police afterwards," he said, adding that the company was cooperating with investigators.
Police are examining CCTV footage and other evidence to reconstruct the bus's movement and determine whether it stopped along the route. They are also checking the accused's criminal records and whether their backgrounds were properly verified before they were hired. The two men had reportedly been working with Vishwanath Travels for more than two years.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.