The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday detained 15 people for questioning two days after group of five men raped a Noida woman and her daughter off the Delhi-Kanpur highway. The police said they have identified the main accused in the case. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav told the state's police to arrest the attackers within 24 hours.

The assailants attacked the family’s car and threatened the men before the assaulted the woman and the 15-year-old girl. The gang, which forced the car to stop near Dostpur village, also looted the family, taking their money, jewellery and mobile phones, The Times of India reported.

The family was travelling to Shahjahanpur to attend a relative’s funeral and had set off from Sector 68 at midnight. The men allegedly surrounded their car and then forced all of them into a field nearby. There, they took their valuables and assaulted the woman and her elder daughter. They let them go several hours later, police said.

The family claimed that they station house officer in Bulandshahar had refused to go look for the robbers immediately after they reported the crime. The officer was later suspended.