While talking to each other, the accused termed their target — the victim photojournalist — as a “deer” to avoid suspicion. This fact came into light when a 20-year-old labourer from the area, who the police has made a witness in the case, approached the police on August 24 and told them that before the gangrape incident, he had heard the accused talking of “hunting a deer”. After reading a newspaper on August 24, however, he realised that the deer implied the victim of the crime.
The crime branch chargesheet in the Shakti Mills August 22 gangrape case has accounts of 86 witnesses, including the statement of 20-year old Akash Ganesh Swami, a J R Boricha Marg area-based labourer, who played cards with the accused. Swami is also acquainted with the minor accused (name withheld) and Siraj, as they both live in the same area, and he also knows Kasim Bengali, Salim, Vijay alias Nanu and Ashfaq, as they would come to his area to play cards with him.
In his statement to the police, Swami has said that on August 22 at around 5.30 pm, while he was playing cards with the minor accused, Bengali and Siraj, Bengali received a phone call from Salim. After the phone call Bengali told the minor accused and Siraj “Salim ka phone tha, shikar karne ko jaldi chalo” (It was Salim. Let’s hurry to catch the hunt). Minor accused and Siraj immediately got up and left the place. When Swami asked them, “Kiska shikar karne ja rahe ho?” (Who are you going to hunt?), Bengali said, “Heeran ka” (of a deer). Bengali and Siraj then left and after some time, the minor accused also left after he received a call from his friend. “I did not suspect anything fishy, as I thought they are trying to avoid the situation following their loss in the card game”, Swami said in his statement.
“When I read the news of the minor accused being arrested, I realised that when they said ‘deer’, they were actually referring to the girl who was victimised on the evening of August 22,” Swami has said in the statement. Swami made some inquiries about some accused, and after not finding any of them in the area, he was sure of his suspicion and approached the NM Joshi Marg police.