The elder brother of 21-year-old Ryan DSouza,prime accused in the Nalasopara gangrape and suicide case,has said that if medical tests prove the rape charges,the entire family would withdraw its support and stop paying his legal fees. Ryan would never lie to me and if he says that he has not done it,then he is definitely innocent. However,I have also told him that if his medical reports show that he is guilty of the rape,we would even stop paying for his legal defence. If he is guilty,he should be punished as per the law, Ryans elder brother,Lloyd DSouza,told Newsline. Lloyd,who stays with his wife and children at Mangalore,has come down to Nalasopara after hearing about Ryans arrest and is staying with his cousin sister in Nalasopara. Ryans father is in Mangalore and his mother had passed away years ago. Lloyd said,Ryan,who works as an AC mechanic,does not have a fixed place to stay due to his work. When in the city,he stays with his cousin sister at a flat in Vailankani building at Nalasopara. He had been out for many months and has been staying in the flat since the last two months only. How is it then possible that he was having a relationship with the victim since the past six months,as the police claim? Lloyd claims that when he met Ryan at the police station,his brother categorically denied him or any of his friends having anything to do with the alleged rape. Ryan also said that at the night of the incident,he told the girl to go home after the ride but she claimed she would get scolded by her mother if she went home as it was too late. She requested to be with them and the youths agreed to it, he said. Meanwhile,Ryans cousin sister (name withheld on request),who stays in the flat with her children,is frustrated with the way her brothers arrest has changed the feelings of the entire locality towards her family. We have always kept to ourselves and have never had any quarrels or fights with anyone in the society. However,since Ryans arrest,it has become difficult for me to step out of the house for fear of hostile looks from everyone in the neighbourhood. I have also been told by a neighbour that the secretary of the building is making noises about making us leave the house as we are tenants here, she said between tears. When asked whether she knew the victim,she said: I do not know her that well but I always saw her hanging out with the boys in the locality,which I never approved of. Moreover,it was she who used to call up Ryan every afternoon at 3 pm including on the day of the alleged rape. But I do not know what conversation took place between them that day. The 15-year-old victim in the case had not returned home till Sunday morning and on reaching home,she committed suicide by hanging herself. When her body was sent for autopsy,the doctor informed the family and police that she had been raped and sodomised. Later a police complaint was registered and Ryan and his three friends Rajkumar Yadav (19),Amol Sejav (22) and Ravindra Shinvar alias Prem (21) were arrested after a classmate of the victim told the police that she saw her leave the classes and go for a ride with the accused on Saturday evening. All the accused have been remanded to police custody till August 12 and the police are in the process of taking down their statements. The family of the victim and the other accused were unavailable for comment.
