Virar gangrape case: Cops searched for woman’s body for 5 hrs; later found her alive at home

Hindustan Times exclusively accessed the chargesheet, which contains the statement of the woman and her boyfriend and of 22 other witnesses, including jewellers and doctors in Virar East. The chargesheet also contains several details of the incident as stated by the woman’s boyfriend

Mumbai: A team of 15 policemen searched for a 20-year-old woman’s body at the Jivdani Temple hillock in Virar East for more than five hours in a gangrape case after discovering blood at the spot. The police assumed that after raping the woman, the accused disposed of the body in the forest area on March 24. However, it turned out that the blood was of one of the accused who was hit by the woman’s boyfriend with a beer bottle during the incident. The woman escaped from the spot and reached home and so was her boyfriend.

HT Image

This was revealed in a chargesheet prepared against two men by the Virar police which will be submitted to the court on Monday.

Hindustan Times exclusively accessed the chargesheet, which contains the statement of the woman and her boyfriend and of 22 other witnesses, including jewellers and doctors in Virar East. The chargesheet also contains several details of the incident as stated by the woman’s boyfriend.

According to police officials, the woman, who works in a factory at Vasai, met her boyfriend at Virar station after work at around 5pm on March 24. The couple decided to go towards a secluded area near Jivdani Temple hillock and were cuddling when the two accused, identified as Dheeraj Soni, 25, and Yash Shinde, 24, who was passing by, spotted the couple.

According to the boyfriend’s statement, the two accused began clicking their photos and also made a video on their phones intending to blackmail the couple and extort money. The accused threatened to post their photos and videos online and demanded ₹10,000. The couple did not have ₹10,000, and the boyfriend transferred ₹500 through UPI app to the accused.

But the men were not satisfied with the amount and decided to sell the gold chain and pendant the woman was wearing. The accused then tied the boyfriend to a tree and Soni took the woman to five jewellery stores which were around 10 minutes away from the spot, while Shinde stood guard near the boyfriend.

“However, none of the jewellery stores accepted the necklace as the pendant was not pure gold,” said senior police inspector Kamble. An irritated Shinde returned with the girl to the spot near Jivdani Temple.

According to the boyfriend’s statement, the accused then asked the couple to have sex before them which they refused. “This irked them further, and they forcibly stripped the boyfriend,” said Rajendra Kamble, senior police inspector. When he still refused to comply with their demands, both the accused raped the girl, said Kamble.

Suhas Bavche, deputy commissioner of police (Vasai-Virar) said, “As the accused were about to leave the spot, the woman’s boyfriend picked up a beer bottle that was lying nearby and smashed it on Soni’s head.”

The accused retaliated and assaulted the boyfriend after tying his hands and legs with strips of rags they found nearby. “The woman told us that when she saw the chance to escape, she fled from the spot leaving her boyfriend at the spot,” added Bavche.

The man regained consciousness around 6.30pm and managed to gather himself and looked around for rags to cover his body. “As he came out of the forest, some local residents of Sainath Nagar spotted him. The locals informed the police about him, as he was bleeding from his forehead,” said the officer.

Kamble said that they reached the spot and saw the blood. “The man was scared and did not tell us that he was the one who hit the accused and that the blood belonged to the accused. My superiors told me to first find the woman even if it meant we had to scan the entire forest area,” added Kamble.

Therefore, for more than five hours, 15 policemen searched the area for the 20-year-old victim’s body who they thought was not only gang-raped but was subsequently killed and her body had been disposed of in the area.

Kamble’s alertness to check the woman’s house brought relief to the entire investigating team after they found that the woman had reached her home and was alive but scared. The victim’s boyfriend who was then questioned revealed that he had hit a beer bottle on the head of the accused and it was the blood of the accused at the crime scene.

Soni and Shinde were arrested just six hours after the crime with the help of a doctor who had treated Soni for the injury he suffered on his head.

“Our constable was in touch with all the local doctors and nursing homes in the area. As soon as we saw the blood, we knew that the wound was deep and the accused would have rushed to a doctor. The constable alerted the doctors on his WhatsApp groups and in a matter of seconds, a doctor informed us about the accused,” said Kamble.

The woman was sent for medical examination and the DNA samples of the accused were sent for chemical analysis to make the case watertight.

Based on the statement of the survivor and the victim, Virar police registered a case of gang rape, unnatural sex, assault, extortion, threatening against the two accused under sections 376(d), 324, 377, 384, 504, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.