Kalyan rape and murder: Police use all resources to nail suspects

Even detective Sherlock Holmes a fictional private detective would have found the case a bit challenging as the accused was never really the one the parents of the victim had named as the main suspect The case pertains to the rape and murder of a 12yearold girl on the evening of December 23 in KalyanThe Kolsewadi police used both technical and human intelligence to nail down the real suspects and crack the case first arresting a woman believed to be the third wife of the key accused within less than 24 hours and subsequently zeroing in on the main accused within 48 hours of the crimeAuto rickshaw allegedly used to transport body PicsNimesh DaveOn Thursday the actual accusedmdashVishal Gawli 28 and Sakshi 23mdashwere produced before the special POCSO court in Kalyan as their first remand came to an end The court has extended the police remand of the accused until January 4Bloodstainclinching clueInvestigating officer Inspector Ganesh Nhayade and his team found crucial pieces of evidence including bloodstains on the mat in the auto rickshaw MH 0500 8261mdashcurrently in police custody that was allegedly used to transport the body of the minor girl to an isolated spot in Bapgaon in Padgha police jurisdiction limit where the body was dumpedPolice said that the evidence has been sent for forensic analysis to verify if the blood is of the victim The police also recovered the shirt that the accused wore on the day of incident and also the CCTV footage of the accused from strategic points including mobile tower locationsMissing trolley bag and mobile phonePolice said they have roped in the Kalyan fire brigade to search for the trolley bag which the accused confessed to having thrown it in a creek near KalyanldquoAccused Vishal drove the auto rickshaw while Sakshi sat on the passenger seat with the trolley bag The bloodstain on the mat is believed to be from the trolley bagrdquo say the police who prima facie are in the process of recreating the scene of the crimeldquoAttempts made to locate the trolley bag and mobile phone have not yielded any results so far The firemen along with our police team have carried out searches in and around the creek area but have not made any headwayrdquo said Inspector NhayadeCrucial CCTV footageThe police said to have found that after dumping the body Gawli and Sakshi en route their way to their home in Kalyan had stopped the auto rickshaw near a bar where he bought liquor and a water bottle CCTV footage captured Gawli who was seen at the cash counterThe crimeOn the evening of December 23 the victim had left her house a little after 4 pm but never returned home ldquoA little past 130 am wee hours of December 24 the parents visited the police station and registered an FIR kidnapping of a minor and named the suspect A police team visited the locality to carry out a preliminary probe but could not make any headwayrdquo said the investigating officerldquoNo one in the vicinity had any doubt about the accused Gawli rather the parents of the victim had named a relative of their neighbour whom they suspected to have abducted their daughter as he had a year ago on the same day December 23 2023 threatened to teach them a lesson after an altercationrdquo recalled investigating officer inspector NhayadeLied to auto ownerGawli by evening had sexually assaulted and hacked the minor girl to death by strangling Later he convinced Sakshi to help him to dispose of the body Gawli also lied to his neighbour before borrowing his auto rickshaw for transporting the bloodstained body and passed through the crime scene a little past 9 pm and returned home two hours later when the parents were still seen searching for their daughter the police saidWhatrsquos nextThe final postmortem report is awaited Meanwhile the autopsy surgeon has given the provisional reason for death as ldquoasphyxia due to compression of mouth and neckrdquo said the Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP Zone 3 Atul ZendeldquoThe police have to make a watertight charge sheet within 30 days and are leaving no stone unturned to record statements of people who are directly or indirectly linked to the case Also with no direct eyewitness to the crime the police so far have collected sufficient circumstantial evidence backed with technical evidence including the mobile locations of the accused They are now awaiting forensic and other scientific evidence to further prove the caserdquo said the DCP