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'Fake cops held knife to her neck, took turns': Details of Delhi park gang rape emerge
The accused snatched the phones of the 17-year-old girl and her friend before pulling her away and sexually assaulting her
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A 17-year-old girl, allegedly gang-raped by three men posing as police officers inside south Delhi’s Aastha Kunj park on Monday evening, was threatened with a pistol and held at knifepoint during the assault, according to the First Information Report (FIR) registered on her complaint.
The girl, a resident of Faridabad, told police she had visited the Kalkaji temple with a 17-year-old male friend to offer prayers on her birthday. Her mother, a cook, wasn’t at home when she left. So, the teen said in the FIR, she kept her elder sister posted about her plan to visit the temple with her male friend.
They reached the temple in the evening. After offering prayers, they stepped out at around 7 pm, and went to the Aastha Kunj Park through Gate No. 7 for a bit before heading to the nearby ISKCON Temple
“As soon as we entered the park and sat on the bench and opened the pack of chips, three men, aged between 30 and 35, came,” the girl said. The men identified themselves as policemen, questioned why they were in the park, and caught hold of her friend and started slapping him. They also confiscated their phones.
Also Read | Few guards, no lights: Inside the Delhi park where a 17-year-old was gang-raped
Deep Dive
One of them pulled her friend away.
“Two of them called me towards the bushes... I was frightened, and I told them that whatever you have to ask, ask me here and that they could talk to my mother. They then called their friend, who was well-built,” the girl said, according to the FIR registered in Hindi.
Asif – one the accused -- pulled out a firearm, the FIR said.
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They took her to a “dark spot” in the park. They took turns sexually assaulting her while they held knives to her neck. “I was crying,” she said.
When they were done, the three returned her clothes and phones and told them to leave.
“They gave our phone back and told us to go away quickly or they would kill us. They told us not to tell anyone and escorted us out of the park…. I told my friend all about the incident,” she said. He dialled the police control room.
Also Read | Delhi gang-rape accused brothers erased phone search history, photos, clips before arrest: Cops
Police said despite the trauma of the attack, the teenager remembered vital details: 30-year-old Asif’s name, nicknames used for the other two -- Hemant Singh, 31 and his younger brother Mukesh Singh-- and descriptions of their clothing.
These details helped the police track down Asif, who was arrested early Tuesday after a brief shootout. His two accomplices were picked up from their Srinivaspuri house and arrested.
