Bopdev Ghat gangrape: Arrested accused earlier held in minor girl’s sexual assault

A senior police officer also confirmed that the accused who was nabbed in UP had previously been booked in another rape case. According to police, all three accused in the Bopdev Ghat gang rape case had been booked in theft cases in the past. Police said the three are friends and had been residing in Pune for the last few years.

As per police records, the three accused threatened a 21-year-old woman and her friend with a sharp knife, koyta (machete) and wooden stick at Bopdev Ghat around 11 pm on October 3. The accused men had allegedly tied the victim woman’s friend with a shirt and belt. They then dragged the woman to an isolated area where they gangraped her. They then allegedly robbed the woman’s gold jewellery and fled the spot.

A crime branch team had nabbed the accused from Prayagraj in UP on Monday. A local court then granted police a transit remand to have him brought to Pune, police said. His custody will be sought from a court in Pune for further investigation.

After a rigorous analysis of hundreds of CCTV videos, the police team arrested the first accused, Chandrakumar Raviprasad Kanojiya (20), from Undri on October 11. Police said the accused, a native of Dindori in Madhya Pradesh (MP), matched about 90 per cent with the sketch of suspects prepared on the basis of the victims’ descriptions. A court had remanded him to police custody till October 15. As the police custody period expired, police inspector Yuvraj Hande of crime branch produced Kanojiya before the Lashkar court on Tuesday afternoon.

Through assistant public prosecutor Amrapali Kasture, the police sought Kanojiya’s magesterial custody for 14 days, with rights preserved to take custody of him for further investigation. Advocate Rahul Lonandkar, Kanojiya’s representative, said the court granted magesterial custody to the accused and has been taken to Yerawada jail.

Police informed the court about the investigation done so far in this case. The police submitted that DNA samples of the victim woman, her friend and accused Kanojiya were sent for forensic analysis. Police have seized clothes that Kanojiya was wearing at the time of the crime.

Police have also recovered a wooden stick allegedly used by the accused persons during the crime. While a search is on for the third accused, police submitted they want Kanojiya to confront the man arrested from UP.