Badlapur sexual assault: After discovering janitor’s two wives left him over his pervert behaviour, SIT to do character profiling to strengthen case

To build a picture of the janitor’s character, the SIT is keen to locate his ex-wives. It succeeded in tracing one of them in Palghar. On Thursday, the police recorded her statement in which she said he would often become violent because of which she left him.

Police will also record the statement of his present wife, who is five months pregnant. With the help of his character profile, a strong case will be built against him and negate the theory floated by his family that he has some mental illness, an officer said.

Before joining the Badlapur school, the accused was employed with a residential society. Police are in the process of making enquiries with members of the society to find out his behaviour when he worked there, the officer added.

The police also tried to check his internet browsing history to see if he was watching child pornography, but they could not get details of his browsing history from the service provider. His phone was also switched off for nearly 10 days due to a technical problem. Police are relying on the footage of a municipal corporation’s CCTV installed outside the school to establish his presence at the school on the day of the incidents, the officer said.

Confessed to crime

The accused confessed to his crime before doctors during his medical examination at the hospital. As the statement given to police by the accused is not admissible in court, we have recorded the statements of the doctors as witnesses to corroborate his confession, the officer said.

The SIT will file a chargesheet in the case as soon as possible so that trial commences at the earliest.

The janitor, employed at the school in Badlapur, allegedly sexually assaulted two four-year-old students on August 12 and 13 in the school’s washroom.

The crime came to light when one of the victims informed her parents. Medical examinations confirmed the sexual abuse of both girls, leading to the registration of the first FIR on August 16 and the accused’s arrest on August 17.

Massive protests erupted in the state over the alleged delay in filing the FIR and the poor safety measures for children in educational institutions.

On August 20, protesters vandalised the school and disrupted local train services at Badlapur railway station for nearly eight hours, affecting train movement on the Karjat-Kalyan routes.

A few days later, the Bombay High Court took serious note of the matter. The SIT subsequently included the school’s principal, a teacher, and members of the management in the FIR for “failing to report” the sexual assault, as required under the POCSO Act.

Janitor re-arrested

SIT officers on Thursday re-arrested the janitor in the second FIR pertaining to the sexual assault on the four-year-old girl and on Friday produced him before the Kalyan court. The court sent him to judicial custody under provisions that whenever the investigation officer of the case needed police custody of the accused for investigation, he would get it. In the second case too the headmaster, the secretary and the president of the Badlapur school management are booked for failing to report the matter.