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Hyderabad cops get 3-day custody of prime suspect in minor’s gang rape case
The Hyderabad Police will get custody of the prime suspect in the gang rape case at 10am on Thursday and produce him before the judge on completion of the police remand
HYDERABAD: A magistrate’s court at Hyderabad’s Nampally criminal court complex on Wednesday gave the police three days to interrogate the prime suspect in the May 28 gang rape of a 16-year-old girl. The court allowed the police to take custody of the prime suspect, Saduddin Malik (18) at 10am on Thursday.
The Jubilee Hills police arrested Saduddin Malik and five juveniles in connection with the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl. Malik forced the girl to get into his Mercedes Benz car at Amnesia and Insomnia Pub on May 28 evening and drove it up to the pastry shop, where she was shifted into a Toyota Innova in which he and five others raped her, said police.
Malik was arrested on June 3 and lodged in Chanchalguda jail.
The five juveniles, who were arrested between June 4 and 7, are in the custody of the juvenile justice board (JJB). On Wednesday, the police petitioned the juvenile board to seek their custody for interrogation. The JJB is scheduled to hear the police application on Thursday and may take up bail applications filed by the five suspects.
Telangana home minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali cited the arrests by the police to insist that the police didn’t spare anybody, irrespective of their political connection. Among the five juveniles are the sons of a legislator belonging to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, chairman of a government-run minority institution, a leader of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader and a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation corporator.
“They (police) are probing the case without any partiality; and there is absolutely no pressure from the government on the police. We will do justice to the rape victim and her family,” Ali said, adding that the government won’t allow the opposition parties to take political mileage out of it.
Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy countered the government, why it hadn’t issued notices on the owner of Toyota Innova car. “Hyderabad police commissioner C V Anand has admitted that the vehicle had a Telangana government sticker and the juvenile accused who used it had removed the sticker and wiped out all the evidence. When the commissioner said the car was driven by a minor, why hasn’t he questioned the car owner?” Reddy asked.
He also demanded that the police register a case under the Motor Vehicles Act against the car owner for giving the vehicle to a minor. “It is unfortunate that a government vehicle was used for anti-social activities,” he said.
