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Clothes they wore, a photograph & CCTV footage: How police traced the accused in Delhi gangrape case
Delhi Police said one of the three accused was arrested after a brief exchange of fire and was wearing the same clothes the teenager had described during the investigation.
Police personnel investigate on the spot of an encounter with accused of an alleged sexual assault of a minor, at Amar Colony in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo credits: Praveen Khanna)
A heavily built man with stubble in a checked shirt and jeans; another in a brown T-shirt and lower; and a third dressed in a black T-shirt and lower. Also, the nickname they used for one another.
These details, recalled by the 17-year-old girl, became the first clues for police officers investigating the alleged gangrape at a DDA park in South Delhi. Her description led the officers to a photograph in police records, which helped them identify Asif.
His arrest and questioning, along with CCTV camera footage from the area, then helped police trace the two other accused, Hemant and Mukesh, officers said.
Police said they matched Asif’s description against dossiers maintained by local police of criminals, anti-social elements and suspicious persons in the area.
“We have dossiers of criminals but also of anti-social elements and ruffians. Police staff who patrol in parks and in common areas click pictures of people who wander aimlessly. Asif was one such person whose picture had been clicked,” a source in the police said.
When she was shown the photograph, the girl identified him as Asif.
This led police to their first suspect. They traced Asif to Amar Colony and arrested him following a brief exchange of fire. Police said he was wearing the same clothes at the time – the ones the teenager had described him wearing during the incident.
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Police said Asif opened fire at the team, firing three rounds despite being asked to surrender. One bullet allegedly hit the bulletproof jacket of Head Constable Rajesh. Police said the officer fired two rounds in self-defence, one of which hit Asif in his right leg. A firearm was also recovered from him, they added.
The investigation then moved to the two other accused based on Asif’s questioning and CCTV footage from the area around the park.
Police said information provided by Asif led investigators to brothers Hemant and Mukesh, who lived in Shri Niwaspuri. Investigators said the CCTV footage showed the brothers walking near the area. Their clothes also allegedly matched the description given by the teenager.
A police team arrested them from their home soon after.
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The three accused knew each other and would often walk around in the park, police said. Asif, who used to worked at a mandi near Srinivaspuri, had met Hemant, practising lawyer, and Mukesh, a BSc Mathematics student, a few months ago over a game of cricket.
Asif, who currently worked at the Okhla Sabzi mandi, is married and has a teenage daughter, said police.
Hemant allegedly used legal terminology while the three men posed as policemen and addressed one another as “Janab”, police said. ‘Janab’ is a term commonly used by Delhi Police personnel while formally addressing their colleagues.
Police have recovered material evidence from the crime scene, including used condoms, which have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination, officers said.
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Hemant and Mukesh’s parents live in Faridabad. Their father, advocate J R Dhankar, alleged that police took his sons from their home around 7 am without informing him of the reason.
“They were beaten up. We do not know the girl, and my sons have no connection with her either. This is a conspiracy to frame them in the case,” Dhankar alleged, while standing outside Amar Colony police station where the case was lodged. Police have not commented on the allegations.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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