Hostel rape-and-murder: Victim’s family wants action against wardens

Why was my daughter staying alone on fourth floor, asks father; killer spent over 5 hours on the floor, reveals CCTV footage

MUMBAI: A day after an 18-year-old student was sexually assaulted and killed, her father sought registration of an FIR against two wardens of the Savitribai Phule Ladies Hostel in Charni Road, who he alleged did not take proper care of his daughter.

Mumbai, India - June 07, 2023: Police personnel deployed outside Savitri Devi Phule Mahila Chhatralaya, after 18-year-old student who was sexually assaulted and found dead on Tuesday in her hostel room, at Marine Drive, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, June 07, 2023. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The Akola resident said his daughter was the only student residing on the fourth floor of the hostel, while all other girls – 21 in total –were accommodated in rooms on the lower floors and the hostel ensured none of them stayed alone in any room.

“Why was my daughter kept alone on the fourth floor?” he asked. He also questioned how the security guard Omprakash Kanojia, who died by suicide after allegedly raping and killing the teenager, went up to her fourth-floor room. There is no direct entry to the hostel from Kanojia’s room and internal hostel gates are closed at night. Police are investigating as to how he managed to enter the hostel and go up to the fourth floor.

Sources in the hostel said that the warden had asked the victim to shift to the first floor, since she was staying alone on the fourth floor for the past few days, but the victim refused to shift, saying she was going to her native place on June 8 for summer vacation and did not want to shift in the room for just a couple of days. A senior police officer said they would look into the allegations of the victim’s father against the wardens.

Police investigations also revealed that Kanojia had spent around 5 hours and 15 minutes on the fourth floor of the hostel. He is seen in CCTV footage going towards the fourth floor shortly after 11.30 pm on Monday and coming down at 4.44 am the next day. Just 14 minutes later, he jumped to his death in front of a train at Charni Road station. Kanojia had locked the victim’s hostel room from outside and the key was found in his pockets after his body was recovered from the railway track.

The girl’s father also told the police that his daughter had told him and his wife that Kanojia had been harassing her for the past 15 days. He said they had asked her not to lodge a complaint against the security guard, as they anticipated that she might face more harassment if she flagged the matter. The warden has also claimed that she was not informed about the alleged harassment.

“Her examination was over and she was scheduled to return home for summer vacations. I had booked her train ticket to return home on June 8,” he said. “How would we know that things would take such a tragic turn?” the bereaved father said.

He recollected how the 18-year-old used to call him every morning around 8am and enquire if he had tea and breakfast. “On June 6, she did not call me. I waited for her call and kept calling her till the afternoon but did not get any response. Finally, I called her hostel and one of her friends went to the fourth floor to check on her, but found her room locked from outside,” he said.

The friend then checked the register at the gate and found that there was no entry to indicate that she had stepped out of the hostel. “On my request she checked, but did not find my daughter anywhere,” he said. The worried father then requested the warden to break open the door of his daughter’s room, but she allegedly refused and informed the police about it. The police eventually broke open the door around 4pm on Tuesday and found the 18-year-old dead, without any clothes.

“According to preliminary information received from the doctors who conducted the autopsy, the student died due to asphyxia caused by strangulation,” said deputy commissioner of police Pravin Munde of the Zone I.

Police officials said that there were three security guards at the hostel who worked in three shifts. Kanojia was allowed to stay in the hostel complex and was given a room where he used to live and iron students’ clothes. He was staying there from 2005, as his father was earlier worked there as a laundryman.

The deceased was pursuing a diploma in Computer Engineering from Government Polytechnic at Bandra and had been staying in the state-run hostel since April 2021.

While the family was initially unwilling to take the body from JJ Hospital until an FIR was registered against the hostel wardens, they finally relented late last night. Her last rites will be conducted in Chaityabhoomi in Dadar on Thursday, her brother told HT.