Mumbai journalist gang-rape case: One accused arrested, four others identified

 

Mumbai, 23 Aug 2013 (TOI): The Mumbai Police have arrested one accused in the photojournalist gang-rape case and have identified all others involved in the crime.

 

Talking to reporters here, the Mumbai Police commissioner said the arrested accused has confessed to his involvement in the case and has provided details of all others present.

 

 

More than 20 special teams are working on the case, he said, refusing to divulge the details of investigations.

 

We don’t want to reveal the details of the accused as it is a sensitive case, he said.

 

The Mumbai top cop claimed that the police swung into action as soon as it was informed about the incident at around 8.30pm on Thursday.

 

The 23-year-old victim, interning as a photojournalist with an English magazine, was allegedly gang-raped at the deserted Shakti Mills compound in Lower Parel when she was on an assignment, doing a story on old chawls in the city.

 

In a chilling reminder of the December gang rape in Delhi, the men tied up the victim’s friend and raped the woman.

 

In her statement to the police, the victim said the five assailants present in the Shakti Mills compound passed lewd remarks and began harassing her.

 

When her friend protested, two of them assaulted him, while three others took her inside the dilapidated structure and raped her.

 

The victim had identified two of the alleged accused as Rupesh and Sajid, the names by which they were addressing each other.

 

The police had earlier in the day released the sketches of the five accused.

 

The sketches were prepared on the basis of the description provided by the victim and her friend. The accused were said to be in the age group of 24 to 30 years.

 

20 suspects were picked up for questioning in connection with the case.

 

The condition of the victim, admitted to Jaslok Hospital, is said to be stable. Preliminary reports suggested that she sustained multiple internal injuries, they said.

 

Dr Taran Gyanchandani, acting CEO of the hospital, said, "We are doing the needful ... she is under strict observation."

 

Earlier, senior Congress leader Murli Deora said five suspects have been arrested.

 

"This case has been cracked. Five persons have been arrested and are in the lock-up," he told reporters.

 

Mumbai: Photographer gang-raped in old Mahalaxmi mill in Mumbai, cops release sketches of 5 suspects

Mumbai, 23 Aug, 2013 (TOI): Three among a group of five men raped a 22-year-old photographer, interning for alifestyle magazine, after bashing up her male colleague at an abandoned mill close to therailway tracks in the Mahalaxmi area on Thursday evening.

The traumatised girl’s friends and family filed a complaint of rape at the N M Joshi Marg police station late on Thursday. Police officials said they had sent the girl to Jaslok Hospital for a medical examination before registering the complaint. The family said the girl had suffered someinternal injuries and bleeding but was responding well to treatment.

 

The incident happened between 5pm and 6pm when the girl and her colleague were at Shakti Mills, very close to the railway tracks in the Mahalaxmi area, shooting for a magazine assignment. Five men barged into the mill, saying the two had trespassed into "railway property". The two would have to accompany them to their "senior officers", the men said.

An altercation ensued, during which the men pounced on the girl and her colleague. They first bashed up the colleague and, while two of them pinned him down, the remaining three took the girl to a corner and then raped her. They then left the mill compound, leaving the traumatised girl and her injured friend.

The two waited for some time before getting out of the mill. They then called their friends and her family and went to the police station to register a complaint of rape. "I have asked zonal deputy commissioner Vinayak Deshmukh to visit the victim and the spot of the crime," additional commissioner of police (central) Praveen Salunkhe said. "We are in the process of identifying the culprits," he added. An officer from the N M Joshi Marg police station said a few youths had already been picked up for being questioned. He expressed confidence that the guilty would be arrested soon.

"So far about 20 suspects have been grilled but we could not get any lead. Our efforts are on to track down the accused," a police officer involved in the probe said on Friday morning.

Police have also prepared the sketches of five suspects in the gang-rape case. The sketches were released on Fridaymorning.

A special squad has been formed by the local police as well as by the crime branch to probe into the case and investigators have fanned out across the city to trace the accused.