Khairlanji: No rape in CBI chargesheet

The CBI today filed a chargesheet against eleven persons in the Khairlanji case where four members of Dalit Bhiyyalal Bhotmange8217;s family were brutally murdered by villagers on September 29.

The CBI today filed a chargesheet against eleven persons in the Khairlanji case where four members of Dalit Bhiyyalal Bhotmange8217;s family were brutally murdered by villagers on September 29. While the chargesheet says the eleven and others had hatched a criminal conspiracy for the killings, it states that there were no findings to suggest that Surekha and Priyanka Bhotmange, wife and daughter of Bhiyyalal Bhotmange respectively, were raped before being killed.

The CBI8217;s conclusion on the rape was based on the report by experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS, New Delhi. The chargesheet, submitted before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class JFMC at Mohadi tahsil, says the accused outraged the modesty of Surekha and Priyanka by removing their clothes.

The eleven 8212; Gopal and Sakru Binjewar, Shantrughna, Mahipal, Dharampal, Vishwanath, Ramu and Shishupal Dhande, Jagdish and Prabhakar Mandlekar and Purushottam Titarmare 8212; have been charged with criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, murder, trespass, outraging modesty of women, destruction of evidence besides offences under the Scheduled Castes 038; Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989. The CBI submitted that the investigation in respect of the remaining 35 accused, in judicial custody now, and SS Bharne, suspended police station in-charge of Andhalgaon and others, is still on.

The chargesheet says that the probe established that the 11 and others hatched a criminal conspiracy on September 29 evening at Khairlanji village with the objective to murder Bhaiyyalal and his family members. They formed an unlawful assembly with deadly weapons like sticks and cycle chains and made criminal trespass into Bhotmanges8217; house between 6 pm and 6.30 pm. They uttered casteist remarks while killing Surekha, Priyanka, Sudhir and Roshan Bhotmange. They threw the bodies in Pench canal to destroy evidence. They also outraged the modesty of Surekha and Priyanka by removing their clothes, it states.

The local Andhalgaon police had arrested 44 persons during their investigation. The case was later entrusted to CID on November 8 which arrested three more persons. After being handed over the case, the CBI inspected the spot of the crime with experts from CFSL, New Delhi. Some witnesses were examined and statements of some were recorded.

During investigation, the CBI found that the Bhotmange family had migrated from Deulgaon to Khairlanji in 1986. Khairlanji predominantly consists of Kalar and Kunbi communities which are OBCs. The Bhotmanges had a strained relationship with some of the villagers. Without naming Siddharth Gajbhiye, the CBI says 8220;a distant relative8221; of Surekha, a police patil of the neighbouring Dhusala village, was a frequent visitor to the Bhotmange household. He used to intervene on Bhotmanges8217; behalf, which irked the villagers.

He was involved in an altercation with one of the accused over non-payment of outstanding wages of his wife and suffered an assault on September 3. During the assault, Surekha and her daughter Priyanka intervened and came to Gajbhiye8217;s rescue.