After the arrest of a labourer five days ago in connection with the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Roha taluka on July 26, the Raigad police on Saturday confirmed the teen was gang-raped. Police added sections of gang rape and criminal conspiracy to the case, and took six more accused in custody.
Earlier, the Raigad police stated that the girl was raped by one man after she was bludgeoned with a stone. The case was then transferred to the local crime branch and the six accused were nabbed based on the statement of the first arrested accused.
On July 26, the girl visited a nearby waterfall in the afternoon, where the seven accused spotted her alone. Some of them approached her but she rebuffed their advances, said the police. Around 5.45pm, the girl’s father sent her to her grandfather’s home at Tamshet, 3km away from their village, Tambdi. “The accused, who were keeping a watch on her, saw her going towards Tamshet in the evening. When the girl was returning from Tamshet, they accosted her and dragged her into the valley. There, they hit her with a stone and gang raped her,” said Raigad superintendent of police Anil Paraskar.
Police said the first accused, who was arrested on Monday, kept changing the sequence of events initially, but later revealed that six more people were involved in the case. Police then booked the six others and took them in custody. Police are going through their birth certificates to establish if any of the accused are minors. They are likely to be arrested after their ages are confirmed. Most of the accused are daily wage labourers and school dropouts from Tamshet. Police are also trying to ascertain if the seven have any criminal history.
{{/usCountry}}Police said the first accused, who was arrested on Monday, kept changing the sequence of events initially, but later revealed that six more people were involved in the case. Police then booked the six others and took them in custody. Police are going through their birth certificates to establish if any of the accused are minors. They are likely to be arrested after their ages are confirmed. Most of the accused are daily wage labourers and school dropouts from Tamshet. Police are also trying to ascertain if the seven have any criminal history.
{{/usCountry}}“Their DNA samples and other evidences have been sent to the Kalina forensic science laboratory to establish that this is a case of gang rape. One accused seems to be a minor but we are yet to ascertain the ages of all the accused, and so are conducting ossification tests,” said Sachin Gunjal, additional superintendent of police, Raigad.