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A rare cautionary tale in Ghaziabad’s gang rape that wasn’t
Police say they have incontrovertible proof that the charges were fabricated to take control of a two-storey building in a congested illegal settlement in north-east Delhi’s Kabir Nagar.
A woman allegedly gang-raped by five men, bound and dumped in a sack on the roadside near Delhi at night, her body bearing visible signs of brutality, allegedly brutalised by a metal object, a commuter discovering her and dialling the police – the similarities with the 2012 Delhi gang rape case were striking. Hence, when a 38-year-old woman levelled sensational charges of gangrape on five men earlier this week, the allegations made headlines across the country.
But when investigators questioned the woman and her brother separately on October 18, a discrepancy caught their eye. “The woman said she was kidnapped by Scorpio-borne men. But her brother told us he saw her board an auto-rickshaw occupied by a man familiar to her,” said Alok Dubey, Ghaziabad’s deputy superintendent of police.
At the time, this was the only one inconsistency in an otherwise grave case. But it aroused suspicion, so as investigators pursued the probe, they stayed receptive to contradictory evidence; they caught the five suspects, but stopped short of formally arresting them. In 48 hours, the whole case unravelled. It turned out that the allegations were ostensibly fake, levelled by the woman and her associate to leverage a property in dispute. “Many aspects of the planning were meticulous, but sloppy in the rest. That is why the case swung between extremes over a 48-hour period,” said G Muniraj, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.
Police say they have incontrovertible proof that the charges were fabricated to take control of a two-storey building in a congested illegal settlement in north-east Delhi’s Kabir Nagar.
In a country where crimes against women are rampant and laws to deal with such offences justifiably strict, the woman’s allegations could have been enough to condemn the five accused men to many years behind bars, given the slow pace with which such cases wind themselves through the court system. But the initial discrepancy in statements and a series of small errors in judgement in planning saved the men from that fate, in a case that experts said could act as a cautionary tale – that while laws need to favour women victims and be strict in an effort to eradicate such gender-based violence, police investigation must remain impartial and thorough to prevent any misuse.
The woman continues to plead innocence. But her brother, who first contested the police version, is not convinced anymore. “I think I agree with the police version of the events. The evidence is overwhelming,” he told HT over the phone.
The motive
At the centre of this alleged conspiracy is the 38-year-old woman and her friend, Azad Kasgar, a man with three previous criminal cases of attempt to murder, robbery and under the Arms act. Police say the woman lived with her three sons in a small flat in north-east Delhi. Until a couple of years ago, she worked as a contractual nurse at a hospital near her home before taking up work at a diagnostics lab nearby, said DSP Dubey. “She has been estranged from her husband for over a decade. He was earlier jailed on charges of assaulting her,” Dubey said.
In 2015-16, she became friends with Kasgar, 42, who lives close to the disputed property, said the DSP. “To the world, Kasgar ran a small jeans manufacturing unit. But he was involved in crimes such as robberies and property frauds,” said the DSP, adding that a host of fake Aadhaar cards allegedly recovered from him were used to facilitate these crimes. “He was notorious for carrying an illegal pistol,” said Raza Khan, a neighbour.
In early 2021, Kasgar rented the ground floor of the two-storey building to run his jeans factory. The building, believed to be worth over ₹60 lakh, belonged to an elderly woman, Sameena, who was living there for four decades, Dubey said.
“In July last year, my brother Shahrukh and I borrowed ₹7 lakh from Kasgar for our furniture business at 10% monthly interest. We entered into an agreement for ₹2 lakh, and handed over the documents of our house to Kasgar, while the rest of the amount was loaned informally,” said Sameena’s son, Jawed Saifi. Sameena and her family occupied the top floor of the dilapidated house that is supported by half-exposed iron beams with the cement worn off.
But when Sameena and her two sons – Jawed and Shahrukh – failed to pay back the last ₹1 lakh by December, Kasgar allegedly used fake documents to transfer the property in the name of the 38-year-old woman, the family alleged. The DSP said that the authenticity of the transfer was being probed.
“Soon after, the woman tried to move into the house with her belongings, leading to a public confrontation. The matter reached the local police where the woman was asked to vacate the premises. Eventually, both the parties approached the Karkardooma court where the case continues,” said DSP Dubey.
Neighbours largely stood by Sameena and her family; two of them even gave court statements in favour of the family. But Kasgar and the woman were already plotting their next step.
The plan
The idea to fabricate a rape case to imprison the brothers, Jawed and Shahrukh, was conceived by Kasgar in the second week of October, Muniraj said.
“Kasgar’s frequent run-ins with the law taught him about the workings of the police. He knew that Delhi was well-covered by CCTVs. Also, he was worried that Delhi Police would hesitate to register an FIR on getting to know of the property dispute,” added Muniraj, when asked why Ghaziabad was preferred over Delhi for reporting the crime.
The woman and Kasgar allegedly zeroed down on October 16 to execute the plan. “The birthday of the woman’s brother that day gave her the perfect excuse to visit Ghaziabad,” Muniraj said.
Late afternoon that day, the woman dropped her sons at a relative’s home 500 metres away and reached her brother’s house in Ghaziabad. At around 9.30pm, the woman left the party, but her brother insisted on accompanying her to the auto stand nearby. “Her brother drives a cab, but he was too drunk to drive her home,” said a neighbour who attended the party, asking not to be named.
There is no evidence to suggest that her brother was part of the alleged conspiracy, and him accompanying her to the auto stand did not appear to have been a part of her plan, the police said.
At the auto stand, her brother saw her board an auto-rickshaw already occupied by Kasgar. This statement by the brother – in sharp contrast to the woman’s – would eventually sow the first seed of suspicion in the minds of the investigators. While the brother returned to his home, police said that Kasgar allegedly dropped the woman at her home. “I told the police just what I saw, without trying to protect my sister,” the brother later said.
Around 11.30pm, the brother got a call from one of the woman’s sons, who said she hadn’t returned home. “My relatives and I searched extensively for her, but couldn’t trace her,” he said in his statement in the first information report (FIR), a copy of which is seen by HT. The one place they didn’t search was her own home, where she allegedly remained hidden for over 24 hours after her return. No one from the family approached the police.
The crime
On October 17, Kasgar allegedly purchased a rope, a sack, and a 6 cm-long metal piece, said the SSP. “In the intervening night of October 17 and 18, the duo set out for the spot in a maroon Alto car in the company of Kasgar’s two friends, Gaurav and Afzal, who were promised ₹5 lakh each upon the sale of the disputed house,” said Muniraj.
The spot was chosen “strategically”, police said. “The Rajnagar Extension Road is busy enough for a dumped woman to be detected. Yet, it is desolate enough at night to carry out such an activity,” said Muniraj.
Whether the injuries to the woman were self-inflicted remains unclear. “The woman hasn’t confessed to conspiring. Kasgar, who has confessed, says that she harmed herself without help from anyone else,” said Dubey.
The call for help began a little before 3.30am on October 18.
“Kasgar waved to passing vehicles for help, but didn’t find any help for 10 minutes. It reached a situation where Kasgar was about to dial the police using his own phone, but stopped short on realising the mistake. Eventually, some passers-by gathered at the spot,” Muniraj said.
The police said that when the woman was found, her face was covered and she was in the sack. “People offered to untie her, but she refused to be helped. She only wanted the police to be called,” Dubey said. Eventually, a passer-by called the police.
Around 3.30am, the police reached the spot and rushed her to Ghaziabad’s MMG Hospital. It was here that the episode began appearing suspicious.
The woman alleged that after her brother left the auto stand, four armed men kidnapped her in a Mahindra Scorpio. “She alleged that she was driven to an undisclosed forested location where a fifth man awaited. The five men took turns to rape her over the next 24 hours, she alleged. But she wouldn’t share specific details,” said Dubey.
She accused five men – Jawed and Shahrukh, a property dealer Deenu who was attempting to purchase the disputed property, and Aurangzeb and Dhola, two locals who were witnesses backing Jawed and Shahrukh in the property dispute.
The investigation
Police formed 10 teams and learnt of the property dispute on October 18.
Initial investigation also revealed Kasgar as the woman’s friend. “Photographs taken by the passerby who called the police captured Kasgar in the frame. That was hard evidence,” Muniraj said.
On October 19, the police picked up Kasgar for questioning. His phone allegedly threw up incriminating evidence. “Even before the woman was found, Kasgar paid a local journalist ₹5,000 by PayTM to sensationalise the case. Kasgar also drafted the news to be relayed,” the officer added.
Kasgar’s phone location was also allegedly found to be around the Ghaziabad spot during the crime. “The Alto car’s GPS device revealed it visited Rajnagar Extension Road. On the other hand, the Scorpio alleged to be used in the kidnapping was seen in CCTV footage to be in Delhi throughout,” Muniraj said.
On October 20, police arrested Kasgar, Gaurav and Afzal on charges of fabricating evidence and forgery. Simultaneously, four of the five suspects – barring Shahrukh – were set free.
The woman’s relatives refused to comment on the matter but she has stayed steadfast . From her hospital room, her brother said, she issued a video demanding strict punishment for her “rapists” and holding them responsible should anything happen to her. On October 22, Shahrukh was released. Around the same time, the woman was arrested just as she was discharged from the hospital.
Experts said the case – though rare – was a cautionary tale. Yogita Bhayana, founder of PARI, an organisation working for rape survivors, said that such cases underlined the potential for misuse. “The emergence of this alleged fake case does not mean that women are not suffering brutal sexual assaults. But such fake cases damage the cause of women. Genuine victims will not be trusted in the future. While every law gets misused, I appeal to women to not misuse this sensitive law,” said Bhayana.
For the five men who spent one to four days in prison, it appears they have been given a second life.
“In police custody, I would often agonise over us being compared to the Delhi gangrape case convicts. I could see my family ostracised by the society and hounded by the media. It seemed like the end of the world,” said Jawed.
