Accused now booked for outraging modesty

The police had earlier charged the four accused — Jeetendra Rana,Sunil Both,Deepak Piswal and Satish Durgraj — with murder,causing hurt with a dangerous weapon and common intent. The police have now slapped Sections 509 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code — the former deals with word or gesture intended to outrage the modesty of a woman,while the latter deals with criminal intimidation.

On Monday,the investigating officer of the case recorded the statements of Priyanka and Mahbeesh and then decided to add the supplementary sections. “Once we spoke to the girls,we had enough details to add the other charges against the accused. Apart from murder and assault,the accused will now also be charged with outraging the modesty of a woman and criminal intimidation,” said senior police inspector Vijaykumar Bhoite of D N Nagar police station.

Bhoite said they had recorded the statements of the others and have now finished recording statements of all members of Keenan and Reuben’s group.

The police had earlier spoken to Reuben’s brother Benjamin Fernandes,Avinash Solanki and Shobita Singh. They had also recorded the statements of the paanwala,the coconut water vendor and also the staff of Amboli Bar and Kitchen outside which the murders had taken place.

An officer,however,said they added the sections now as they did not have anything in writing first. “We had not received any complaint in writing earlier. We waited for the girls to tell us this and only then added the charges,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile,the DN Nagar police is irked that its case may have been slightly damaged as the photograph of the main accused Rana was made public on Monday by a local newspaper. The police officers said the identification parade of the accused is yet to be done,but after the photo of Rana has been published it could be difficult to prove his role in court.

“The witnesses are yet to identify the accused so that we can establish the role of each,” said Bhoite,adding that the identification parade is the most crucial element in the case as the roles of each of the four accused has to be established by the victims.

“We were relying heavily on the identification parade but after Rana’s photo was published,the defence lawyer might tell the court that he was identified on the basis of the photo and reports that stated he was present at the spot,” said Bhoite.

The families of Keenan and Reuben are also reportedly upset as they feel the police might not be able to get justice for their sons who lost their lives while protecting their friends. Criminal lawyer Majib Memon said,“When the accused is an unknown person,the police takes them in masks so that their identification parade is done. If the face is made public before the parade,the defence lawyer may say that since the photo is out,the victim has identified him because of that and his client was not at the spot. This can benefit the accused. The precaution taken by the police has gone in vain now as the photo is published.”