23 June,2015 12:10 PM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
The 1,168-page chargesheet lists 126 witnesses, including an eyewitness the survivor’s friend who had accompanied her that day; among the nine accused are three cops from the Sakinaka police station
Crime Branch officials investigating the rape case, in which a model had accused Sakinaka police officials of raping her, filed the chargesheet in the Esplanade Magistrate Court yesterday. The 1,168-page document includes 126 witnesses and statements.
The incident had allegedly occurred in the intervening night of April 3 and April 4, during which the 29-year-old model and her male friend were picked up by the accused, including three cops from the Sakinaka police station Assistant Police Inspectors Sunil Khatpe and Suresh Suryavanshi, and Head Constable Yogesh Ponde.
The survivor and her friend were taken to the police station, and the woman was then taken to the Sangharsh Nagar police chowkie, where she was allegedly raped. The chargesheet lists 126 witnesses, including the survivor's friend, who is an eyewitness.
The document also includes statements, under Section 164 of the CrPC, of the model and three other people, along with the call detail records of the accused. Eight men, including the three cops, have been arrested and one accused is absconding.
All the accused have been booked under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 384 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat), 379 (theft), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 366 (kidnapping) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Apart from these, Khatpe has been booked under Section 376(2)(a), which pertains to rape by a police officer within the limits of a police station to which he is appointed, or in the premises of any station house, whether or not situated, in the jurisdiction of his police station, or the rape of a woman under his custody or the custody of a subordinate, and Section 354A (which deals with physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, and a demand or request for sexual favours). "Khatpe's medical report, confirming rape, stands positive," said a Crime Branch police official.
