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Panchkula gangrape: Police file challan against 11, including victim’s husband
The 400-page chargesheet against 11 persons filed on Friday, including the woman’s husband, includes call details and medical records of the victim, besides other documents related to the case.
It was a deal of Rs 15,000 that went awry and led to the complaint of gangrape of a 22-year-old Manimajra woman in a guest house in the Morni hills area of Panchkula district in July this year, states a challan filed by Panchkula police at a local court.
The 400-page chargesheet against 11 persons filed on Friday, including the woman’s husband, includes call details and medical records of the victim, besides other documents related to the case, officials privy to the investigations have said.
On July 19, the victim had alleged that she was raped for four days by eight to ten men, including two policemen, at Lovely guest house in Kaimbwala village of Morni from July 15 till 18.
Who are the accused
The 11 accused in the case include the owner of Lovely guest house, Sunil alias Sunny, arrested with staffer Avtar and driver Sahab Singh for gangrape. Seven Ambala-based men, said to be Sunny’s customers as he was believed to be running a sex racket, have also been arrested for rape.
They have been identified as Sukhwinder Singh, Karan Sharma, Manjeet Singh, Vikash alias Vicky, Shadi Ram, Ajay Kumar and Dheeraj.
Later, in a twist to the case, police had arrested the victim’s husband for sending her to the guest house for prostitution. He was booked under Immoral Trafficking Act.
The guesthouse manager, Ashok Kumar alias Shoky, according to police, is yet to be arrested.
The challan mentions that Sunny was running an illegal racket and had earlier hired a prostitute for Rs 60,000 for 10 days and another for Rs 40,000. After fixing a deal of Rs 15,000 with Sunny, the victim’s husband had sent his wife to him as a prostitute with her name changed as he did not want to reveal her identity. However, Sunny found out who she was when he snatched her phone as she made a distress call to her husband in Manimajra from the guest house.
Later, the victim’s husband lodged the case of gangrape after Sunny violated the terms of the ‘deal,’ keeping the victim confined to the guest house for more days than specified and paying the husband just Rs 13,000 and not the full amount.
Husband changed the version
According to the challan, the victim’s husband had earlier given a different account of the incident to the police, saying that on July 15, his wife had accompanied Sunny to Morni after he offered her a housekeeping job for Rs 11,000 per month. At the guest house, however, she had been held captive and gangraped, he had said.
The challan also mentioned that Sunny had started a WhatsApp group through which he sent pictures of women involved in the sex racket to his clients. A diary had also been recovered from the guesthouse in which Sunny used to write the details of the women.
Sources claimed that husband had earlier sent the victim to other places too as part of the sex racket.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Noopur Bishnoi has said a status report of the case will be submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) on the next date of hearing.
A fresh status report has also been sought by October 9 by the HC bench of chief justice Krishna Murari and justice Arun Palli on the claim by the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case that the victim’s husband was involved in trafficking and had sent her to Sunny.
How the case unfolded
July 18: Victim approaches Panchkula women’s police station in Sector 5. However, as she belongs to Manimajra she’s asked to lodge a complaint with Chandigarh police.
July 19: Chandigarh police lodge FIR after her complaint is filed.
July 20: Case transferred to Panchkula police factoring in jurisdiction angle.
July 20: Main accused Sunny and his staffer Avtar arrested by Chandigarh police.
July 22: Police arrest Sunny’s driver Sahab Singh in the case. Also, seven Ambala men, believed to be Sunny’s ‘customers’ are arrested.
July 23: Sunny and Avtar brought on production warrants to Panchkula
July 25: Police arrest victim’s husband for allegedly acting as a pimp and driving her to prostitution.
July 26: Probe also reveals that Sunny had fixed a deal with victim’s husband.
