Sambalpur/Raigarh: An absconding gangrape accused from neighbouring Chhattisgarh died in Odisha after coming in contact with a live wire laid by farmers to protect their crops from wild animals, police said Thursday. Sanjay Yadav, 18, a resident of Kesepali village under Pusour police station in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, was wanted in a case of gangrape. Jharsuguda police Wednesday night informed about his death to their counterparts in the neighbouring state. Raigarh City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Akash Shukla said Yadav and seven others were accused of raping a 27-year-old tribal woman in Pusaur police station limits of Raigarh August 19 when she was on her way to visit a local fair after celebrating Rakshabandhan festival.
Six of the accused were arrested while another accused, aged 15 years, was detained, he said. Police were on the lookout for Yadav who was absconding. As per the preliminary information, Yadav escaped to Saraipali village in Jharsuguda district and took shelter in the house of his relative there. However, he accidentally stepped on a live wire laid in the field by farmers to protect their crops from wild animals and got electrocuted Wednesday, the official said. Jharsuguda police has lodged an accidental death report and initiated a probe. Rahul Chauhan (19), Monu Sahu (23), Rahul Khadia (19), Uttam Mirdha (20), Narendra Sidar (23) and Bablu Deharia (19) have been arrested in the gangrape case under sections 70(1) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The accused were produced before a local court Wednesday which sent them to judicial custody while the minor accused was sent to a juvenile home, the CSP said. According to police, Chauhan, one of the accused, was known to the survivor woman.