The four accused in the Nallasopara gangrape case have been remanded in police custody till August 12. The police are now looking at verifying the sequence of events, involvement (if any) of the alleged accomplices, whether the rape was planned and whether the accused had shot any video of the incident, said a police official requesting anonymity.

The police were able to trace the accused after Sandra (name changed), the friend of the 15-year-old victim, told them she had seen the victim leave in a blue Esteem car with Ryan D’Souza, one of the accused, and some other youths. The police claim that the parents of the victim found about the rape only after a medical examination of the body was conducted.

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, was in a relationship with one Ryan D’Souza, a 21-year-old youth who supports himself by doing odd jobs for some band. On Saturday evening Ryan, who was with his friends, asked the victim and Sandra to join them for a ride. However, Sandra refused to join them.”

The four youths, identified as Ryan D’souza (21), Rajkumar Yadav (19), Amol Sejav (22) and Ravindra Shinvar alias Prem (21), then allegedly went to a friend’s house at Vasai and bought beer. After consuming it they went to Evershine City in Vasai east for a ride where their car ran out of petrol. “After buying petrol, they went to Fun Fiesta in Nalasopara east where they allegedly gangraped the girl. The girl was with them the whole night and was released in the wee hours of Sunday,” said Mane.

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