Telephone operator gangrape: Two witnesses depose in court

Mumbai: Two more witnesses today deposed before a sessions court in connection with the gangrape of a 18-year-old telephone operator allegedly by five persons on the premises of Shakti Mill compound here on July 31. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told PTI that one of the witnesses was the magistrate who had conducted the identification parade of three of the five accused. “It was in the presence of this magistrate the victim and her friend identified three accused,” said Nikam. [caption id=“attachment_1277685” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Another witness was the police officer who had recorded the statement of the victim’s mother. He had showed a map to the victim to identify where she was allegedly raped since she was not aware of the location of the crime. The girl identified the place as Shakti Mill. The police had arrested Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh, Mohamed Kasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Kasim Bangali, Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, and a minor for allegedly gangraping the telephone operator. A charge sheet running into 362 pages was filed on October 8 against four accused, while the minor’s case was separated. In a similar case in the same compound, a 22-year-old photojournalist, interning with a English magazine here, was allegedly gangraped by five persons, including a juvenile whose trial is separated, when she had gone to the deserted mill compound with her male colleague on an assignment on August 22. The accused had tied up the victim’s colleague with belts and raped her. The accused Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari and Siraj Rehman have been charged with rape, conspiracy, common intention, unnatural sex and charges under Information Technology Act. The Mumbai crime branch had on September 19 filed a 600-page charge sheet against the four accused. PTI