E-Paper
Oshiwara rape-and-murder: Possibility of planting evidence can’t be ruled out: Court acquits watchman
A sessions court in Mumbai has cleared a watchman of charges of raping and murdering a 74-year-old resident, citing illegal detention and possible evidence planting. The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused, Mohammed Rafi. The defence argued that Rafi was illegally detained by the police for 15 days, during which time evidence may have been planted. The court accepted this defence and rejected the prosecution's claim that Rafi targeted the woman out of fear of losing his job.
MUMBAI: In its detailed order clearing 28-year-old Mohammed Rafi, a watchman posted at a housing society in Oshiwara, of the charges of raping and murdering a 74-year-old resident of the building, the sessions court has accepted the defence case that the accused was illegally detained by the police for 15 days and the possibility of planting evidence cannot be ruled out.
Sessions judge Shrikant Y Bhosale said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Rafi, a native of Kashmir.
The court discarded the prosecution case that the accused had targeted the woman as he feared of losing his job. It was claimed that by attacking the deceased, he wanted to show that his services as watchman were necessary. Besides, the prosecution claimed that he first raped the elderly woman and later killed her.
The court said the theory put forth by the prosecution was not proved. “There is absolutely no other evidence to justify the said motive put forth by the prosecution,” said the court.
On the contrary, the court accepted the defence that Rafi was illegally detained from the day of the incident, as against the case of prosecution that the accused had ran away to his native place in Kashmir.
“It is pertinent to note that the prosecution witnesses, who are members of the society, have stated that from the day of incidence, the accused was seen in the police station.
“The society members made a complaint to the police that because of the detention of the accused, there was no one to arrange the water supply to the building and therefore, the police officers used to bring the accused to the society for opening the valve of water and to close it,” the sessions judge noted.
Rejecting the prosecution case that the accused had raped the woman, as traces of his semen were found on pyjama and bolster of the accused, the court said, “From the said evidence there is reason to believe that from day of incidence the accused was within the reach of police, he was taken to the police station.
“On this background, it is difficult to say that from the day of offence the accused was absconding. It is also pertinent to note that according to the defence during the above period, the police planted the semen on the pyjama and the bolster. Having regards to the facts and circumstances of the case, the defence of the accused appears to be probable.”
On January 11, 2016, the victim was found in a pool of blood in her apartment by her grandson, who stayed along with his parents separately. He claimed that his grandparents lived in a separate house where the woman was found dead.
On the day of the incident, the complainant’s grandfather had gone to Saki Naka while the grandmother was alone at home. He called his grandmother repeatedly, but she did not pick up the phone and when he reached the house, he found that safety door of the flat was opened but the main door was shut.
When he rang the doorbell, no one answered. That is when he started looking for her grandmother from the window and noticed from the window of the bedroom, that his grandmother was lying under the bed.
He called the watchman and asked him to break open the door. However, as the watchman took time reaching there, he broke the lock himself and entered the house.
In the bedroom he saw his grandmother lying under the bed in a pool of blood. She was tied up and her throat slit. A murder case was registered with Oshiwara police station.
During the probe, the police suspected Rafi and arrested him on March 3, 2016. Police claimed that the accused had also tried to rape her as during the investigation, a cushion was found to have semen spread over it.