Four persons accused of raping a 15-year-old near Thane were on Tuesday remanded to police custody till August 12. According to sources, the police are now trying to verify the sequence of events, involvement (if any) of accomplices of the accused and also if the gangrape was planned and whether the accused shot any video of the incident.

The victim had gone to celebrate Friendship Day with one of her friends and three other youths on Saturday evening. The five had got into a Maruti Esteem belonging to her friend. She was allegedly gangraped by the four youths inside the car and was later dropped near her residence on Sunday morning. The victim subsequently committed suicide at her residence.

The police were able to trace the accused after the victim’s friend Sandra (name changed) told them she had seen the victim leave in a blue Esteem with Ryan D’Souza and three others.

The police claim the victim’s parents found about the rape only after a medical examination on the body.

Senior Police Inspector Pradeep Mane from the Nalasopara police station said, “The victim, who used to stay with her mother and elder brother at Nalasopara west, had a relationship with one Ryan D’Souza, 21, who supports himself by doing odd jobs for some band. On Saturday, Ryan, who was with his friends, asked the victim and Sandra to join them for a ride. However, Sandra refused to join them.” Others who have been arrested are Rajkumar Yadav (19), Amol Sejav (22) and Ravindra Shinvar alias Prem (21).

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