Two more suspects held,police say they hit on victim with rape on mind

On Friday,just after midnight,they had arrested the first suspect. While his family says he is a 16-year-juvenile,police mentioned him as a 19-year-old in the remand on Saturday.

While Rehman was held from Mumbra at 5 am,Jadhav was arrested around 2.30 am from a video parlour in Madanpura,where he was allegedly watching a porn film.

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Rehman and Jadhav are neighbours in Agripada and known to be childhood friends. Additional Commissioner of Police Central Region Praveen Salunkhe said Rehmans past criminal records were being probed.

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Police said the two claimed to have got calls from absconding suspect Qasim Mohammed,18,soon after he was summoned by the Crime Branch Thursday at 11 pm. Qasim reportedly told them to go into hiding. Jadhav,who was allegedly drinking at a local bar in Govandi at the time,left for his friends video parlour in Madanpura.

Police said that statements of the victim and initial interrogation of the suspects indicated that rape was always their intention,and that they accosted the woman on August 22 evening for this purpose.

The juvenile has reportedly told the police that while the woman and her colleague were taking photographs for their assignment in the Shakti Mills compound for 20-25 minutes,he and another suspect kept an eye on them without their knowledge. They also called up three other accused,allegedly telling them that an easy target had walked into what was their regular haunt,and asking them to come. Maal aayi hai,jaldi aa, is what he said,an accused has reportedly confessed.

A police source said the accused told the victim that she would have to speak to their boss and she,unintimidated,said she would do so. The duo led the victim and her friend to an isolated area surrounded by dense and high shrubs. The accused then asked the two to remove their belts. Had they not gone that far inside,the crime could have been averted as earlier they could be seen from the main road adjoining the compound, said the source.

The accused then bound the friends hands and legs,dragged the victim around 200 metres away and assaulted her. A broken bottle was used to intimidate her.

After the gangrape,they led the two out,pointed us in the direction towards Mahalakshmi,and went in the opposite direction,the victim is reported to have told the police.

The information that we have obtained from the interrogation of the first arrested accused is almost exactly similar to the statements given by the victim and her friend. We will now be verifying this entire sequence of events in interrogation of the others, said an officer.

Jadhav who was held in the wee hours of Saturday had reportedly watched two pornographic movies and was dozing off through the third at a friends video parlour in Madanpura when police came to the door.

His presence at Shakti Mills has been confirmed by phone records. He was produced at Bhoiwada Magistrate Court and,along with the 16-year-old,sent to police custody till August 30.

According to police,Jadhav,who lives Dombivili,had been hiding in the video parlour since the rape. He was reportedly wearing the same jeans and shirt as at the time of the incident.

He was traced as he switched on his cellphone,off since that day,for a few minutes Friday night. Jadhav has reportedly said he switched on the phone to check if there were any messages or missed calls from alleged accomplices in the gangrape.

We traced his mobile location and with the help of informers zeroed in on him. However,when we reached the video parlour we found he had destroyed his SIM card, said an officer.

Officials added that while Jadhav initially denied his role in the gangrape,saying he had only tied up the victims male colleague,he broke down soon and confessed it.

According to police,he was addicted to porn as well as charas. Jadhavs friends and he would reportedly regularly visit the red light area in Kamathipura.

Assistant prosecutor Nand Giri sought maximum police custody for the accused,calling them dangerous criminals.