“It is a ghastly act of rape and murder and we were keen on knowing who did it. We were only trying to help the police as they are still clueless,” said Rawat.

They are now waiting for one youth who left the village before sunrise on Monday. His parents have been asked to ensure that he returns before Friday. “If he does not return by Friday, we might be compelled to doubt him. However, this ‘drive’ was not against any individual or anybody in particular. This was our way of ensuring that nobody from the village was involved,” said Rawat.

Defending the police presence at the scene on Monday, Additional SP, Ajmer, Lalit Maheshwari stated that the police had nothing to do with the incident. “The police were not a party to it and it was entirely the panchayat’s decision to ask the men to strip. The policemen did not examine them, the village heads did. We are investigating the case independently, not based on the findings of the panchayat,” he said.