CM Devendra Fadnavis meets Kopardi rape victim's family

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and minister Ram Shinde yesterday met family members of the gang-rape victim at Kopardi in Ahmednagar district.

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Fadnavis expressed his deepest condolences and assured strongest action against the culprit and strictest punishment through a fast-track court.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

A large number of people were present at the time in Kopardi, a CMO official said.

The CM interacted with them and assured in his short speech that government will leave no stone unturned to ensure justice.

The 15-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed by three men at Kopardi in Ahmednagar on July 13, when she was returning after meeting her grandfather.

She was allegedly accosted by three men, who gangraped her before strangling her.

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The victim, a student of Std IX, had reportedly been mutilated, and local accounts suggest that she was found with her hair pulled out, and hands and teeth broken. She was found with both shoulders dislocated, police said.

The crime sparked protests across the state, with people taking to the streets demanding action against the accused, while the Congress demanded the resignation of the CM on moral grounds.

Police said all three of the accused were arrested by the local crime branch after the incident.

Fadnavis had informed the assembly last week that the accused have been booked under sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) of the IPC, and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

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He had also said that noted lawyer Ujjwal Nikam has been appointed as the public prosecutor in the case and the government has given solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the victim's family.