Gang-rape: Mumbai cops recreate crime scene

Supplementary statement to be recorded; victim discharged

The accused in the Mumbai gang-rape case were on Wednesday taken to the Shakti Mills compound to reconstruct the entire sequence of events leading to the crime even as the victim was discharged from hospital.

The crime branch, probing the case, is also planning to record a supplementary statement of the victim, a 23-year-old photojournalist working as an intern with an English magazine, Joint Commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy said.

“To build a foolproof case, reconstruction of sequence of events that led to the crime was done today. We want to make a watertight case so that no room is left for the defence to find loopholes in the probe,” Roy, who accompanied the five accused to the scene of the crime, told reporters.

The accused were made to enact the entire sequence of events—from the point they directed the unsuspecting victim and her male colleague to a pathway to the defunct and deserted compound to the commission of rape.

“The accused were taken to the spot where they demonstrated how the crime was perpetrated. We got more clarity and better understanding of what happened. We are confident of building a strong case and determined to bring it to the logical end,” he said, adding the entire proceeding, lasting about an-hour-and-a-half, was videographed.

Roy said an ‘Odhani’ (stole), which did not belong to the victim, was recovered from the spot and DNA samples would be picked up from it to be matched with those of the accused. The perpetrators had wiped themselves with the stole after committing rape.The police had on Tuesday seized clothes, including undergarments, worn by the suspects at the time of the incident during searches at their homes.

Asked about the reason why a supplementary statement of the victim needed to be recorded, Roy said since she was traumatised immediately after the incident, she might have omitted some points inadvertently.

Meanwhile, the young journalist has been discharged from hospital after doctors attending on her declared her “medically fit”.

“The patient had improved steadily and our team of doctors specially assigned, had declared the patient medically fit for discharge last evening and hence she was discharged late last night,” a statement from Jaslok Hospital said.

“Best quality medical care was given to the patient at all times at the hospital,” the statement issued by Dr Tarang Gianchandani, acting CEO and Director, Medical Services, said.  Amid conflicting claims that one of the accused Chand Babu Sattar Sheikh was a minor, Roy said a bone ossification test would be conducted on him, possibly on Thursday.

Chand’s grandmother had produced a certificate to the police which showed he was born on February 26, 1997, and was thus a juvenile.

“In view of the contradiction, we have decided to subject him to an ossification test. If he is an adult, he would be tried at a regular court, and if he is a minor, he will be proceeded against at Juvenile Justice Board,” he said.

Roy said a charge under section 120 (B) of IPC relating to criminal conspiracy could be slapped against the accused as they might have conspired to commit the crime in a pre-planned manner. Some sections of Information Technology act could also be applied against them, he said.They have so far been booked under sections 376(d) (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506(2) (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention to commit an offence).Roy said a photograph clicked by accused Salim Ansari after the incident, which he had deleted on the night of the incident itself, would be retrieved with the help of a software. Potency tests are already being conducted on the accused to prove they were medically fit to commit such an offence, Roy said.