It was a routine monthly meeting of Mumbai police officials in 2017. As cases were reviewed, and unsolved cases were brought up, Crime Branch officials heard about a case that had left senior Mumbai police officers exasperated. It was the rape of a 14-year-old hearing- and speech-impaired girl. The Crime Branch decided to take over, and officials were quickly apprised of the facts of the case. In December 2016, the 14-year-old minor from the northern suburbs of Mumbai was taken to a hospital after she complained of a stomach ache. The girl was four months pregnant and had allegedly been raped. The police were informed, following which a rape case was registered against unidentified accused. Even as the girl’s family decided to terminate the pregnancy, the local police began investigating the matter. But there were communication barriers as the girl could not speak, and the police could not make much headway. When the Crime Branch stepped in, they decided to use the services of a speech therapist who could communicate with the girl in sign language. An officer who investigated the case said that every time they spoke to the girl with the help of the speech therapist, she would point to the newly constructed building located opposite the building where she resided. “We realised that the building was somehow linked to the incident. We found that the building was under construction around the time that the girl had been raped,” the officer said. The Crime Branch team then asked for a list of all the under-construction labourers who worked at the spot around the time. “While we could contact all the other labourers – they were also produced before the girl – there was one person, identified as Akhilesh Basfur, a 20-year-old working at the site, who had left for Uttar Pradesh soon after the incident came to light,” the officer said. When the police tried contacting Basfur on the number available with the contractor, they found the phone was switched off. Suspecting he was linked to the incident, a Crime Branch team went to his village in UP and brought him to Mumbai. According to the police, during interrogation, Basfur confessed to the crime, following which he was arrested in July 2017.
