Auto driver ‘who ferried rape-murder suspect and girl’ could be police witness

“Javed says he had committed the abduction,rape and murder in a matter of a few hours. After abducting Nusrat on June 6,he took her walking to the Kurla railway station and then took an autorickshaw to Vatsalabai Nagar. A month earlier,Javed had gone to work on cables at the Vatsalabai Nagar slum and he recalled that a room in one of the chawls had been locked. After taking Nusrat there,he raped her and when she began screaming,he strangled her with piece of cable wire that we later found at the spot,” said an official.

Investigators said Javed had met Nusrat twice before finally abducting her. “The first time he had just brushed past her,tapped her head playfully and murmured a greeting. The next time he had bought her chocolate and this time she had responded to his greeting. On June 6,he asked her to accompany him for a chocolate and promised to play with her and the girl agreed,” said an official.

Javed has reportedly told the police the auto driver had asked him who the girl was,and that he had replied she was his sister.

“After killing the girl,Javed had left the slum and directly gone to meet his friends,with whom he later went for collection of his cable dues. It appears that he had planned for an alibi as when we called his friends for questioning,they told us that Javed was with them that evening. For five days we had to question Javed,before he finally confessed,” he said.

The police have as evidence the cable wire and Javed’s mobile records that show his presence in the area at the time of the crime. Investigators are now engaged in speaking to witnesses who may have seen Javed with the child.

Drivers of the autorickshaw union in Kurla,meanwhile,complained about the way they have been questioned. They alleged that a fortnight ago,even before Javed’s arrest,the police had taken 10-14 of them to the police station and questioned them for hours,causing the loss of a day’s work. Since then,they said,the police would take at least 10-15 of them every day and grill them for 8-9 hours.

“We plan to request the police to coordinate through the union instead of indiscriminately forcing drivers to go with them. We will help the police in whatever way we can but none of us would want to testify in court in such a heinous case,” said a driver.