Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 18 (IANS): The priest of a temple, where a 50-year-old woman was allegedly raped and murdered on January 3, has been charge-sheeted as the main accused.
The two other accused in the case, have been booked for causing the disappearance of evidence.
Earlier, in the FIR, filed two days after the woman's death, all the three accused were booked for gang rape and murder.
It may be recalled that the seriously injured woman was dumped by the three accused at her home on the night of January 3. She had died a few minutes later.
Initially, local police had tried to pass it off as a case of an accident but when the brutality of the crime came to the fore, several policemen were suspended and an FIR was filed on January 5.
Station House Officer (SHO) and an outpost in-charge were booked after it was found that they did not take prompt action in the case and delayed the autopsy for several hours.
The family of the woman had alleged that she was raped and murdered inside the temple by priest Satyaveer Singh a.k.a. Satya Narayan and his two disciples.
The woman's husband was so traumatised by the incident that he had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
All the three accused were arrested and sent to jail. The post-mortem report had confirmed that the woman sustained multiple injuries, including some in her private parts.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Badaun, Sankalp Sharma, said, "During our probe after filing of the FIR, statements of witnesses, doctors of private hospitals and forensic reports were taken into consideration. We have now filed a charge sheet in the court on Wednesday where we have booked priest Satya Narayan under IPC sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).
"The rape and murder charges have been dropped against his two disciples. They have been booked for causing the disappearance of evidence."
The National Commission for Women (NCW) had also taken note of the incident and a team had visited the victim's place too.