The two arrested accused in the gangrape of the photojournalist were produced before the magistrate court by officers of the Mumbai crime branch on Sunday. According to the police’s statement, a few items have been recovered by the police officials from the site of the incident, including a broken beer bottle that was used to threaten the victim.
According to the police, a broken beer bottle, the victim’s jeans and T-shirt along with her undergarments have been recovered from the site, but it is yet to recover the clothes of all the accused worn when the crime was committed. The statement adds that the police is yet to collect the accused person’s blood samples and get their medical examination done. The statement, however, mentions that all papers from the NM Joshi Marg police station have been transferred to the crime branch.
To build a watertight case against the accused, the police has also started collecting feeds of CCTV cameras installed on all the roads that lead to the Shakti Mills.
A senior crime branch officer told this newspaper that feeds of six CCTV cameras have already been collected. One camera is installed on platform number 1 of Mahalaxmi station, from where the victim and a few accused moved towards the spot on August 22. Other CCTVs installed at commercial buildings and a few other establishments located on the roads that lead to the mill are also being traced.
“Out of the 20 teams appointed to the probe, one dedicated police team has been given the task of collecting the CCTV footage and analysing it. Officers will go through each and every slide of the feed from 4 pm to 9 pm. This will help us prove the entire sequence of events,” said the senior officer.
Meanwhile, the police has also gathered details of the phone calls exchanged between the accused before and after the rape to establish that they planned the offence before committing it.