Kalyan girl rape-murder: Court extends police custody of accused couple by 2 days

Thane: A court in Maharashtra's Thane district on Thursday extended by two days the police custody of the couple arrested in connection with the alleged abduction, rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl at Kalyan.

Prime accused Vishal Gawli and his wife Sakshi were presented before District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge V A Patravale at the end of their police custody.

Vishal Gawli allegedly kidnapped the girl with the help of his wife in Chakki Naka area of Kalyan on December 23 afternoon when the victim was playing outside her house. He later raped the minor and killed her. The couple then took the body in an autorickshaw to Bapgaon on Kalyan-Padgha road and dumped it there, the police have said.

The victim's body was recovered on December 24 and Sakshi Gawli was arrested the same night. Her husband was held the next day from Buldhana district.

Vishal is a resident of Kolsewadi in Kalyan tehsil. Sakshi Gawli, who works in a bank, is his third wife.

After the duo was presented before the court, the police sought their further remand to continue their probe into the crime and to recover the mobile phone of the accused that he threw in the Kasara ghat section as well as a bag which he disposed of in a creek.

The lawyer representing the accused requested the court to allow their relatives to stay with them in police custody as they feared that they could be eliminated in a Badlapur-like encounter. However, the court turned down the plea.

The lawyer also argued that since the probe into the crime was over, their police custody was not required.

However, the court extended the police custody of the accused couple by two days.

Meanwhile, a number of local people formed a human chain outside the court in Kalyan to demand the death sentence for the accused. Police personnel were deployed there in view of the protest.