Dingarheri murder, rape: CBI’s chargesheet puts Mewat police in dock

The Gurgaon police said four members of the Axle gang — Dharmu, Muna, Lambu and Jai Bhagwan — have not only accepted their involvement in Mandpura case in which two women were raped at gunpoint but have also confessed to their role in the Dingarheri incident.

With the CBI filing the chargesheet in the Dingarheri gang-rape and murder case, the Mewat police is likely to face heat as the agency has found clinching evidence against four members of the Axle gang, who were arrested by the Gurgaon police in connection with another gang-rape in Mandpura, Pataudi.

Gurgaon police had arrested four of the Axle gang in connection with the Mandpura rape and robbery case. They allegedly confessed to their involvement in the Dingarheri case as well. The CBI has also named the four in its chargesheet. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The Mewat police had arrested four men of a neighbouring village in connection with the rape and murders that took place in Dingarheri on the intervening night of August 24-25, 2016. A couple was killed and their two nieces, one of them just 16 years old, were gang-raped.

The Gurgaon police said four members of the Axle gang — Dharmu, Muna, Lambu and Jai Bhagwan — have not only accepted their involvement in Mandpura case in which two women were raped at gunpoint but have also confessed to their role in the Dingarheri incident.

The CBI had taken the Axle gang members on production warrant and sent their DNA samples for examination. These samples matched with the specimens collected from the private parts and clothes of the victims in Dingarheri thus proving the theory of the Gurgaon police.

Pradeep Rapria, counsel of the four arrested by the Mewat police, said his clients were framed in the case as the polygraph tests had cleared them, their fingerprints were not found at the scene of crime and nor were the weapon or looted article as recovered them.

The CBI said the involvement of Axle gang members has been proved by DNA matching.

The agency said the DNA samples of the four arrested by Mewat police did not match with the DNA profiles obtained from the victims . It stated that so far nothing incriminating has emerged against them except oral statements of victims and their family members.

If these four accused are let-off during proceedings— a real possibility at this stage — it will be a major embarrassment for the Mewat police.

Rapria said, “The CBI chargesheet has not found any major evidence against my clients. They will, hopefully, be released. Two of my clients are employed as office helpers at a warehouse, the other two are farmhands.”

The chargesheet also added that the names of these four accused cropped up in the statement of one of the deceased. The CBI attached a report of the medical board of AIIMS which opined that due to severe head injury, the deceased can’t be certified medically/mentally fit to give a valid oral statement.

“I have already moved the application before the CBI court to discharge my clients on which the CBI’s response is awaited,” Rapria said.

A Gurgaon police spokesperson said that all the four accused from Axle gang were taken to the crime spot in Dingarheri village where they identified the spot and gave details about the sequence of events.