MEERUT, Dec. 23 -- The conviction of five accused in the Bulandshahr national highway gangrape case not only delivered long-awaited justice to the victims, but also brought to fore glaring lapses in Bulandshahr police's initial probe, wherein instead of pursuing the real perpetrators, the local police hurriedly sent innocent men to jail to showcase prompt action, revealed two CBI charge sheets and findings of the Haryana Police. Within 24 hours of the incident, on July 29 night, the Bulandshahr police claimed to have cracked the case by arresting three men - Rais, Naresh, and Bablu. However, there was confusion on August 1, when the DGP and other officials visited the spot and addressed the media, naming three accused- two of whose names differed from those already sent to jail. Police officials later claimed that two of the arrested men, who had initially given their names as Naresh and Bablu, were actually Chavez and Jabar after verification. Under mounting pressure from the administration, the Bulandshahr police conducted a hurried press conference, declaring the arrested youths as the "monsters" responsible for the heinous crime. Yet, while being produced before the court, the accused broke down before television cameras, crying and repeatedly asserting their innocence, saying, "Sir, we have been framed." When the CBI later took over the probe after registering a case on August 12, 2016, and conducted an identification parade inside the jail, the victim's family refused to identify the three men. All of them were subsequently found to be innocent, causing severe embarrassment to the police, confirmed CBI lawyer Amit Chaudhary....