Kidnap and gang-rape of Delhi woman fabricated: Ghaziabad police
The police said they have substantiated the “confessional statements” of the three suspects -- Azad Tehsin, resident of Welcome in Delhi; Gaurav Sharan, resident of Shivam Garden in Badalpur (Gautam Budh Nagar); and Mohammad Afzal, resident of Kaila Bhatta in Ghaziabad -- with forensic and electronic evidences before making the arrests.
The Ghaziabad police on Thursday said the alleged abduction and gang-rape of a 38-year-old Delhi woman was “a totally made up and fabricated case” and arrested three of her friends, who they said were part of the “conspiracy” to nail the five suspects named in the alleged case.
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The police said they have substantiated the “confessional statements” of the three suspects -- Azad Tehsin, resident of Welcome in Delhi; Gaurav Sharan, resident of Shivam Garden in Badalpur (Gautam Budh Nagar); and Mohammad Afzal, resident of Kaila Bhatta in Ghaziabad -- with forensic and electronic evidences before making the arrests.
“The alleged incident did not take place. We have arrested three friends of the woman on the basis of their confessional statements which have been corroborated with evidences. The incident was planned to nail the five men (initial suspects) who had a land dispute with the woman. We have also come across evidences (from Azad’s mobile phone) which suggest that payments were also made to sensationalize the case. There have been two earlier attempts in Delhi to nail the five men and this was the third such pre-planned attempt,” Praveen Kumar, inspector general (Meerut range) told reporters during a press briefing on Thursday evening.
The police said the three men were booked under Indian Penal Code section 195 (giving false and fabricated evidences), 467 (forgery) and provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act.
As for the woman, the police said they are continuing with the investigation and will take appropriate action. The brother, they said, so far does not appear to be a party to the conspiracy.
The police on October 18 registered an FIR of gang-rape and wrongful confinement of a Delhi woman, naming five suspects from Delhi, on the basis of a complaint given by the woman’s brother who lives in Ghaziabad.
It was alleged that several men in an SUV abducted the woman on the night of October 16 (Sunday) from near her brother’s house while she was waiting for an auto to return home to Delhi. It was alleged that she was found in a gunny bag left on the roadside near her brother’s home around 4am on October 18 (Tuesday), with her hands and legs tied, after being allegedly gang-raped for two days at an unidentified location.
Debunking the theory that she was raped and dumped on the roadside, the police on Thursday said the woman and her friends used Gaurav’s Alto car to bring her to the spot in Ghaziabad and the GPS locations of the vehicle confirmed the route they took.
The police said the two initially named suspects, Shah Rukh and Mohammd Javed, have an ancestral property in Nand Nagri in Delhi and woman’s friend Azad got a power of attorney made in his name and sold the property to a third person. Later, the property, estimated to be worth about ₹53 lakh, was transferred to the woman, police said.
The FIR initially named both Shah Rukh and his brother Javed, their uncle Aurangzeb and two other men from whom the woman’s mother had allegedly taken a loan for selling the land.
“There was a land dispute and a case regarding that is pending at the Karkardooma district courts in Delhi. The present suspects and woman planned to trump up gang-rape charges against the five men named in the first FIR. We will take suitable legal action against her as well. The investigation is still continuing and more suspects may be apprehended. As per the plan, the woman was staying at a location in Delhi during the period of the alleged kidnap and gang-rape,” IG Praveen Kumar said.
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had issued a notice to the Ghaziabad police on the matter on Wednesday. DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal also tweeted about the alleged gang-rape in a very graphic manner and likened the incident to the December 16 gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in Delhi.
At least eight teams of the Ghaziabad police were working on the case, the IG said .
The officers of the team said the GPS location of Garuav’s Altowas found to be in Ghaziabad during the period of the incident, while the mobile locations of the five initially named suspects were nowhere near Ghaziabad.
The hospital spokesperson of GTB Hospital in Delhi told HT on Wednesday that a small “foreign object” was found in the woman. They added that she had no internal injuries and only external bruises.
Muniraj G, SSP Ghaziabad, on Wednesday said the “foreign object” was a 5-6cm long piece of tongue cleaner.
“The investigation has revealed that after attending the birthday of her brother in Ghaziabad, the woman went back to her house in Delhi and sent her three children to her sister’s house. During the alleged incident, she was staying in Delhi. On October 17, her three friends met in Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad. As part of the plan, Azad sent Gaurav to pick up the woman in his car and bring her to Ghaziabad. Gaurav did so and left the woman at the spot and made it appear as if she was gang-raped and dumped on the roadside,” said an officer of the investigating team, asking not to be named.
“Azad stayed back to see who would discover her and report the matter to police. We received a call early Tuesday from a local who spotted the woman. The caller also prepared a video of his discovery. In that video, on closer observation, we spotted Azad,” the officer said.
Investigators also said the “foreign object” was purchased three days before the incident and they have the specific location from where it was purchased.
When contacted, the woman’s brother said, “The police has not informed us about the latest arrests. If police are refuting the kidnap and gang-rape, they are doing so under pressure. The land in question is my sister’s property and she is even paying the electricity bills. The five (initial suspects) men have occupied it forcibly and were threatening her to withdraw the court case.”
