More than 48 hours after a 30-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi's Nangloi area, police on Thursday said they had arrested the driver and his helper in connection with the case. The incident has sparked a political row, with opposition leaders questioning the alleged delay in disclosure and raising concerns over women's safety in the national capital.
According to Delhi Police, the woman, who works at a factory in Mangolpuri, had boarded the bus from Rani Bagh around 12.30 am on Tuesday while returning home to Pitampura.
Police said the woman was near the B Block bus stand in Saraswati Vihar when an orange bus bearing a Bihar registration number stopped near her.
"She went to the conductor to ask the time, and he allegedly dragged her inside the bus," a police officer said.
Investigators said the bus, which was travelling from Delhi to Bihar, later moved towards Nangloi, where the driver, identified as Umesh, and his helper Ramendra allegedly assaulted the woman inside the vehicle.
According to police, the accused — both residents of Uttar Pradesh — were heading towards Nangloi bus stand to pick up passengers when the incident took place. The woman was allegedly dropped off in Nangloi after the bus had travelled around seven kilometres.
Deeply shocked by the gang rape of a woman inside a moving bus by its driver and conductor. She was returning home from work when the accused forced her into the bus and assaulted her for nearly 7 kms.
— Aditya Goswami (@AdityaGoswami_) May 14, 2026
CM @gupta_rekha, this is the reality of Delhi under the triple engine govt. https://t.co/R3bfMRLkoT
"At about 4.45 am, a PCR call was received at Nangloi police station. The case was later transferred to Rani Bagh police station," an officer said.
The survivor later underwent a medical examination and filed a formal complaint. Both accused have since been arrested and sent to judicial custody.
The case quickly triggered political reactions, with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders targeting the Delhi Police and the BJP over women's safety in the city.
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned why details of the case were not made public earlier.
"We want to ask the police commissioner how a bus kept moving for hours in a central area like Rani Bagh while a woman was allegedly gang-raped and later thrown out," he told reporters.
AAP national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described the incident as a "stain on society".
"We learned nothing from Nirbhaya," Kejriwal wrote in a post on X.
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia also compared the incident to the 2012 Delhi gangrape case, writing: "Another Nirbhaya incident in Delhi! Gang rape in a moving bus again! Girls are not safe in schools, not safe in buses!"
The remarks referred to the 2012 Nirbhaya case in which a 23-year-old paramedic student was brutally assaulted inside a moving bus in Delhi before being thrown onto the road. The incident had triggered nationwide outrage and led to major changes in India's laws on sexual violence.
Police said further investigation into the latest case is ongoing.
