Three witnesses depose in tele operator's gangrape case at Shakti Mills

Mumbai: Three more witnesses deposed in the sessions court today, in connection with the gangrape case of an 18-year-old telephone operator in the Shakti Mills compound on July 31. Out of the five accused in the telephone operator’s gangrape, three were also found to be involved in the August 22 photojournalist gangrape case, in the same mill compound. “The first witness was the ‘panch’ witness (the witness before whom the police seals or opens premises or seals things at the crime scene), the second was the employer of the victim’s friend, while the third was a policeman,” Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. [caption id=“attachment_1188039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A representational pic. Reuters[/caption] The first witness was present when the police recovered certain evidences from the spot of the crime. The victim had helped the police recover many things from the spot of crime such as her bottle, her duppatta and the quilt on which she was raped. The second witness was the employer of the victim’s friend. Her friend was also assaulted on the fateful day. According to Nikam, this witness said that his employee (the victim’s friend) had called him at 8.30 pm and asked him for money for travelling to Chhattisgarh. The third witness was the policeman who produced a copy of the victim’s ‘missing’ complaint to the crime branch. The victim’s mother had lodged a ‘missing’ complaint after the victim and her friend went to Chhattisgarh. The police had arrested Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh, Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Kasim Bangali, Salim Ansari and Vijay Jadhav for gangraping the telephone operator on July 31. On October 8, the police filed a 362-page chargesheet against the four accused in connection with the telephone operator’s gangrape case. PTI