Photojournalist's rape: chargesheet filed, trial to start soon

MUMBAI: Having put the probe and the subsequent formalities on a fast track, Mumbai police today filed a chargesheet against five accused in the photojournalist's gangrape case within a month of the incident.

The crime had triggered a nation-wide outrage and attracted publicity even in the international media.

"A 600-page charge-sheet was filed against four accused -- Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Bengali, Siraj Rehman Khan -- before a metropolitan magistrate's court, while the same copy was also moved before a juvenile justice court as the fifth one is a minor," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.

They have been charge-sheeted under sections 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), 376(d) (gangrape), 377 (unnatural offence), 342 (wrongful confinement), 341 (wrongful restraint), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, Roy added.

The charge-sheet consists details of the victim's ordeal, statements of 86 witnesses, forensic evidence from the spot, DNA analysis reports and phone call records.

After the charge-sheet was filed, the magistrate `committed' the case (transfered it for trial) to the Sessions court. All the four accused (who are major) will be produced before the Sessions court on Monday.

The young photojournalist was gangraped by the accused when she had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound in central Mumbai on an assignment on August 22 with a male colleague.

The accused tied up the victim's male companion with belts, and raped her.