Mumbai gang rape: Rapists forced survivor to clean up crime scene

TNN

MUMBAI, 26 Aug, 2013 : The depravity of the five accused in the Shakti Mills gang-rape case did not end with the brutalization of the photojournalist. After the crime, they forced the 22-year-old survivor to clean up the scene. The police have also recovered more evidence and released details about how the crime was perpetrated.

 

The fresh evidence includes the clothes of the survivor and also of the five suspects, broken beer bottles with which the suspects threatened the survivor and her male colleague, and the cellphones of the suspects. While the fingerprints found on the bottle will be used as evidence in the case, cellphone call records and signal locations will be mapped to retrace the suspects’ movements before and after the crime. The evidence, along with other forensic samples, have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina.

In her FIR, the survivor has said that one of the men took away her cellphone and switched it off after her mother had made two calls inquiring about her well-being. On Thursday, August 22, the survivor and a male colleague left their magazine office for an assignment around 5pm. From Mahalaxmi station, they walked along railway tracks to reach Shakti Mills. "My colleague and I were looking for an entry when two men (who are among the five suspects) guided us. They left us and went inside the mill. After completing our shoot, we planned to go to the front gate, outside which we noticed vehicles."

It was then that they were accosted by three of the suspects, who harassed them about not having permission to shoot on the premises. As per the FIR, the survivor tried to call her boss, but the line was busy. Her boss soon called back, telling her and her colleague to leave the place.

The suspects mentioned a fictitious murder, tied up her colleague and asked her to go behind a broken wall. When she received a call from her mother, they told her to respond normally. She got a second call from her mother, and the suspects told her to do the same. After the call, one of the men snatched her cellphone and switched it off. Then they brutalized her.