In Dhobhi Ghat clusters of slums coexist alongside highrise luxury apartments – an area whilch was once the city’s mill belt. The five accused were known as the “macchi market chors” were residents of this area and locals say that they were known troublemakers who would not work and could not keep a job. “They used to steal from people – snatch chains and no bad things. This was their job, said a resident who knew them. Jayshree Prakash Salve, resident of Dhobhi Ghat, said that the police used to let them off on bail. [caption id=“attachment_1063467” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The five accused were known as the ‘macchi market chors’. AFP[/caption] Chand Sattar Sheikh, 18 years old, the first accused to be arrested lived in the area with his grandmother and brothers. Not very far from where Sattar Sheikh lives, in Agripada in Kalapni lives 20-year-old Mohd Qasim alias Bengali, the most depraved of the rapists who allegedly assaulted the victim twice. Residents of the shanty are now worried that their huts will be demolished after residents of buildings close by led a march to the local police station. While Sattar Sheikh’s grandmother, Sharnabai refused to believe her grandson’s involvement in the act telling CNN-IBN that her grandson was a minor and was not guilty of any such crime (“He just saw the girl and ran away,” she said), Bengali’s mother Chand Bibi said, “I wanted to hit him. I asked him how he could do this when he has a sister of the same age?” Another accused in the case, 20-year-old Vijaya Mohan Jadhav, too roamed the streets of Dhobhi Ghat often and has burglary offences registered against him for stealing railway property. Locals say, all these accused used to pay off the police to look the other way when they stole railway property. All these accused are alleged to have assaulted and raped women at Shakti Mills in the past. The mill land is dilapidated and runs adjacent to the rail tracks.