IIT-BHU Rape case: Three accused arrested, motorcycle seized

Three persons were arrested for allegedly molesting and stripping an IIT-BHU student near her hostel in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi in November this year, the police said on Sunday (December 31). The arrested men were identified as Kunal Pandey, Abhishek Chauhan and Saksham Patel, all of whom belonged to the same city. They had allegedly molested the student of the Banaras Hindu University and also recorded a video of the act.The incident had triggered massive protests by the students of the university where they claimed that the outside elements were involved in the incident and had demanded to ban the outsiders from entering the campus.

The accused, identified as Kunal Pandey, Anand alias Abhishek Chauhan, and Saksham Patel, were all nabbed in Varanasi. Notably, these individuals have no academic ties to Banaras Hindu University. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged that the three accused were BJP workers and that the party would "give immunity" to them in the case."These are the BJP workers who have received immunity from top BJP leaders, who are accused of crossing the limits of indecency with a student in Banaras Hindu University (BHU)," he wrote on X.In addition to the arrests, police also seized the motorcycle used during the assault, adding to the evidence against the trio.