Based on the information provided by the accused during interrogation in the Manipal gangrape case, the Udupi police on Tuesday arrested two people for tampering with evidence.
The police, meanwhile, also managed to get the statement of the victim, who had refused to meet police officers till now.
IGP (Western Range) Pratap Reddy said here on Tuesday that the two arrested were Balachandra (40), brother of first accused Yogesh, and Harindra (29), brother of second accused Hariprasad.
Though the two were not directly involved in the case, they have been arrested for tampering with evidence related to the case. The autorickshaw used for kidnapping the Kasturba Medical College student near the Manipal University library on June 10 is in the name of Harindra. During the interrogation of Hariprasad and Anand, the police came to know that Harindra and Balachandra had tampered with evidence, like removing blood stains from the autorickshaw. When the police announced that the rape victim saw a Ganesha statuette near the dashboard of the autorickshaw, the two arrested had replaced it with a figurine of Radhakrishna. They were also in contact with the accused. “The first accused, Yogesh, who has been admitted to hospital after trying to commit suicide, is yet to be taken into custody,” the IGP said.