GURGAON: Dense fog, biting midnight cold and deserted stretches of the Gurgaon–Faridabad Road created a chilling window for a brutal crime, as a 25-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped inside a moving van in the early hours of Tuesday, with her cries for help going unheard for nearly three hours. A day later, police arrested two van drivers in the case and said an identification parade will be conducted to ensure a fair trial. Faridabad police said the identities of the accused have been withheld as the survivor is yet to formally identify them in a parade. The suspects, drivers from Jhansi and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, were arrested by the Sector 48 crime branch, which also seized the Maruti Suzuki Eeco allegedly used in the crime.
Police said the woman had left her home around 8.30pm on Monday after an argument with her mother and told her sister she was going to a friend’s house. Though she planned to return within a few hours, she got delayed and eventually began her return close to midnight. Unable to find public transport at that hour, the woman accepted a lift in the van, unaware that two men were inside. Instead of taking her home, the men allegedly drove towards the Gurgaon–Faridabad Road and took her beyond the Hanuman temple on the stretch, steering through isolated pockets shrouded in dense fog. According to investigators, the woman was held captive in the vehicle for nearly three hours as it moved through lonely stretches of Faridabad. She allegedly screamed for help during the ordeal, but with poor visibility, biting cold and little traffic on the road, no one heard her cries. The family alleged the two men took turns to rape her inside the van before throwing her out of the vehicle while it was still in motion around 3am near Mula Hotel at Raja Chowk in SGM Nagar. The impact left the woman with serious facial injuries that required 12 stitches. She managed to contact her sister, who rushed her to a hospital in Faridabad. Though doctors advised shifting her to a Delhi hospital, the family admitted her to a private facility in the city. Police said a case has been registered at Kotwali police station under sections 70(1) (gang rape), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (acts committed by multiple persons) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Maruti Suzuki Eeco used in the crime has been seized, and further investigation is underway.
