THE MUMBAI crime branch has been asked to reinvestigate the rape case in which the Mumbai Police had wrongfully arrested two brothers, who were eventually discharged by the court last week. The Dharavi police had on May 15 arrested the brothers, aged 20 and 19, in connection with the rape of a 19-year-old married woman at her residence. The woman had alleged that two persons had entered her residence and raped her on May 11, based on which an FIR was registered. A senior officer said, "After the botched up investigation by the local police, it was decided to ask the crime branch to investigate the matter afresh." The officer said that the case is being investigated by Unit V of the Mumbai crime branch. An officer said that the current case is part of nearly 20-25 cases that have been transferred to the crime branch from local police units. "Several crimes registered at local police stations that had not been solved were transferred to the crime branch by the Mumbai Police Commissioner," said an officer. After their arrest, the family of the two brothers had approached senior police officers with proof that they where present at another place when the rape occurred. Eventually, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Vishwas Nangre Patil intervened in the matter and when he questioned the men, it came to light that they were not involved in the case. Following this, the brothers were released on bail and eventually last week they were discharged by the Banrda court. "We will re-investigate to find out if someone else is involved in the case. We will also record a detailed statement of the woman again," said an officer from the Mumbai crime branch.
