Students hold a protest march demanading justice for the gang rape victim, in Rohtak on Monday, February 09, 2015. Photo: PTI Students hold a protest march demanading justice for the gang rape victim, in Rohtak on Monday, February 09, 2015. Photo: PTI

Under attack over alleged mishandling of the rape and murder case of a mentally challenged woman from Nepal, Haryana police on Monday arrested eight youths and promised action in case of any lapse by its personnel.

The Opposition Congress latched on to the incident, which came to light on February 4, to target the BJP government in the state on the law and order situation, saying it was "yet to wake up from the slumber", and demanded reconstitution of SIT under an IG level officer to go into the horrific incident.

DGP Yashpal Singhal, who visited the crime spot, told PTI that the arrested accused are in their twenties and appear to be criminals.

"The case has been cracked and eight youths out of total nine have been arrested from Gaddikhera village, some 9 km from Rohtak," he said.

In a grim reminder of the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi, a 28-year-old mentally-challenged woman from Nepal was brutally raped and murdered and her body dumped in a field at a village on the Rohtak-Hisar Highway here.

The woman had been brutally assaulted as the post-mortem report mentions several injuries on her private parts. Stones and blades were found in her stomach.

The victim had been residing with her sister for the past three months and was undergoing treatment at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here.

The victim's sister had lodged a complaint with police on February 1 and on February 4 the woman's body was found from the fields in Akbarpur village with several injury marks on it, Rohtak Superintendent of Police Shashank Anand had said.

On the issue of alleged police apathy, the DGP said they swung into action the moment the complaint was lodged and a DSP rank officer is himself working on it.

"If, however, any lapse on the part of police officials is found, action will be taken as per law against them," the DGP said.

After the details of the crime surfaced, Opposition Congress, including former chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and AICC spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala had strongly deplored the incident and accused the Manohar Lal Khattar dispensation of lawlessness in the state.

The Congress also demanded a special investigation team (SIT) under an IG-level officer to probe the case.

Girls lighting candles for the gang rape victim in Rohtak on Monday, February 09, 2015. Photo: PTI Girls lighting candles for the gang rape victim in Rohtak on Monday, February 09, 2015. Photo: PTI

Describing the Rohtak incident as eerily similar to the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case, Congress spokesperson Surjewala hit out at the BJP government in Haryana saying that it was "yet to wake up from its slumber".

Surjewala alleged that while Haryana BJP government had spent lakhs of rupees on 'Beti Bachao Yojana', Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his ministers had not found time to even visit the victim's family so far.

Meanwhile, activists of different social organisations, including Nepalese, met the Deputy Commissioner here seeking justice for the family members of the victim.

The activists took to streets to lodge their protests and also held a candle light march and staged dharnas here seeking justice for the family of the deceased woman.

Singhal, earlier in the day, had announced to raise the reward money from Rs one lakh to Rs five lakh for any person providing information in the case.

There were 7 sub-teams in the SIT, which worked round the clock on all possible fronts to solve the case, police said.

Earlier, a team of specialists from FSL, Madhuban had visited the crime scene and collected all possible physical evidence, which has been sent to the laboratory for further examination.

The arrested accused include a Nepalese identified as Santosh, Singhal said.

Other accused arrested in the case are identified as Rajesh alias Ghuchadu, Sunil alias Sheela, Sarvar alias Billu, Manbir, Sunil alias Madha, Pawan, Parmod alias Padam, he said.

"The police are conducting a search for arresting the ninth accused Sheelkaraam," he said, adding, all the accused have confessed to their crime.

"The victim was not kidnapped, but had left home on her own. The accused murdered her to destroy all evidences," the DGP said.

Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Surajkund, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said, "though it took police nine days to round up the accused, yet it was a major achievement as it was a blind case. The police acted promptly into the incident."

On quantum of sentence to the accused, the chief minister said that they have committed a heinous crime and therefore, efforts would be made to ensure that they get the "stringent punishment".

"All efforts were being made to arrest the remaining accused and there is no laxity on part of the police to solve this case", he added.

Khattar had earlier said that seven teams of police are working on the case.