The seven-year-old boy is considered to be a key prosecution witness as the accused Mohammad Sattar Shaikh (44) had raped his sister twice in the presence of the boy.
According to the police, the victim was first raped in February last year but had kept quiet fearing that she might be thrown out of the family. However, when the accused raped her again on two occasions in August, she informed her mother, who lodged a complaint with the suburban Dharavi police.
The accused, a taxi driver, was arrested and has been in custody since then. The boy was adopted by the accused and his wife after his parents died when he was seven months old.
The boy today told the court that on the night of August 17 last year, he was home with the victim, as the mother was out of town when the accused came home drunk and raped the victim. However, during cross examination by the accused's lawyer, the boy told the court he was "asked" to depose so by his mother and relatives.