Kathua rape and murder: Signatures forged to create false alibi

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Forensic evidence received by the Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch on Sunday in the Kathua rape and murder revealed that Vishal Jangotra had forged signatures on an exam attendance sheet that "he had signed" in Meerut.

Crime Branch sources said the forensic report received from the Central Forensic Laboratory said the signatures on the exam attendance sheet did not match with Jangotra who had claimed to have signed the exam attendance sheet in Meerut to prove that he was not guilty after he was accused by the investigators of being part of the heinous crime.

The Crime Branch had all along been claiming that Jangotra's signatures had been forged by his friends in Meerut to create a false alibi and suspect that someone from the university had allowed the accused to write his answer sheet after the exam was over on January 15.

It has now summoned three friends of the accused to be present before the investigators on Monday in Jammu.

Jangotra had claimed that he had appeared in an exam in Meerut on January 15, while the Crime Branch charge sheet said he was present in Rasana village of Kathua when the crime was committed.

The investigators also suspect that the accused had deliberately visited an ATM and was seen looking at the camera to create an alibi for himself.

Eight persons including a juvenile cousin of Vishal Jangotra, another local friend of Vishal, two special police officers (SPOs), a head constable and a Sub-Inspector of J&K Police have been accused of the crime.

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