LUCKNOW: A man allegedly ‘gifted’ his 35-year-old daughter to his friends and later joined them to gang-rape her early Monday in Sitapur district, about 70km away from Lucknow. One of the three accused in the crime was arrested on Tuesday while the others are on the run.Police said the accused who is in his late 50s — and his daughter were visiting a fair in Kamlapur area on the evening of April 15. After attending the fair, the accused called his friend Maan Singh, a history-sheeter, to the spot. The men then convinced the woman to ride with them on a bike and took her to the house of another friend, Meraj.There, the woman’s father handed her over to the men and all three took turns in raping her. She was kept confined in Meraj’s house for the next 18 hours until she finally escaped on Monday evening, said cops. Once home, she narrated her ordeal to her mother and an FIR was registered the same day.Meraj was arrested on Tuesday while the woman’s father and Maan Singh are yet to be apprehended. Kamlapur SHO Sanjeet Sonkar said Meraj is in his early forties and works as a quack in Kamlapur. “He claimed to be a medical practitioner but couldn’t produce a degree,” Sonkar added. On the day of the crime, Meraj’s family was away. Sitapur SP Sureshrao A Kulkarni said that the woman had been married off 16 years ago but returned to her maternal house within two years of marriage after a feud with her husband. In November 2017, her father had been banished from the village following allegations of an incestuous relationship between the father and daughter. “A panchayat was called and the father was arrested. He got bail in February this year,” said Kulkarni. Thereafter, the woman started staying separately with her 14-year-old child.

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