India: Eight-member SIT formed to probe Shimla rape case

Shimla, Apr 30 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh police has formed an eight-member SIT to investigate the rape of a 19-year-old woman in a moving car in Shimla on Sunday night, an official official said.

The Special Investigation Team will be headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Parveer Thakur, according to an order issued by DGP Sitaram Mardi this evening.

The order came as the opposition Congress cornered the Jai Ram Thakur government on the law and order situation following the incident.

Congress leaders, including state party chief Kuldeep Rathore, submitted a memorandum, addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind, to Governor Acharya Devvrat in connection with the rape case.

In the one-page order, the DGP said the SIT probe will be monitored by Shimla SP Omapati Jamwal and DIG Southern Range Asif Jalal.

CM Thakur has ordered the DGP to conduct a thorough investigation and arrest the accused at the earliest, an official spokesperson said.

In her complaint, the woman has alleged that she was raped by a person in a moving car on Sunday night when she was on Mall Road.

A car stopped near her and she was pulled inside and raped, she said.