Hauz Khas rape: Accused Raja sent to 14-day custody

A Delhi court sent the 20-year-old accused in the Hauz Khas rape case to 14-day judicial custody on Tuesday.

A Delhi court sent the 20-year-old accused in the Hauz Khas rape case to 14-day judicial custody on Tuesday.

Police say they didn’t allow Raja to show his face as his identification parade hasn’t been conducted. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

Wearing an old jacket, a cream-coloured torn trouser and a pair of dirty white slippers, Raja arrived at the district court in Saket around 3.30pm. When he stepped out of the police van, entered the court premises and spotted media people at a distance, a police official said Raja had asked police if he could remove the cover of the red cloth covering his face.

A senior police official said that Raja wanted to make sure that his face is clearly visible when camera persons and photographers were clicking his pictures from outside gate number 2 of the court.

“But we did not let him lift the cover as his test identification parade (TIP) is yet to be conducted,” a police official said.

Raja was arrested on Tuesday morning for allegedly raping a 24-year-old woman from Nagaland inside Deer Park near Hauz Khas Village in the early hours of Sunday. The incident took place when the victim and her cousin stepped out of a restaurant in Hauz Khas Village to return home.

Raja and his juvenile friend met the sisters and offered to drop them home in a car they said was parked nearby.