Mumbai gang rape accused forced survivor to clean up crime scene

Mobile phone used by the accused to click pictures is yet to be traced

Three days after the brutal rape of 22-year old photojournalist in Mumbai, investigations have continued to bring to light gruesome details about the accused and ordeal they put the victim through. 

 

Investigation reports have revealed that even after the event of the rape, the victim was put through further pain by the accused, as they made her clean up the crime scene after them, as reported by NDTV.

 

News reports on from NDTV and CNN-IBN also state that the accused used a mobile phone to take pictures of the victim after she was raped. This mobile phone is missing and is still being traced by the Mumbai police. The men allegedly intended on using these pictures to blackmail the woman, if she reported the crime. 

 

Police sources say that the missing mobile phone belonged to the accused Kasim Bangali, who has refused to disclose the its location. 

 

News reports also state that the victim and her male companion was escorted to a nearby train station by all five accused. 

 

Further investigations have also led the police to believe that the accused may have sexually assaulted other women in the past. Though, some the accused have prior records, none of them have been charged with sexual assualt before.

 

Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil has said that the case will be tried by a fast track court. Maharashtra state government has appointed noted ciminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikkam as the public prosecutor in the case, as reported by CNN-IBN.

 

As per reports by NDTV, claims have also been made by the family of one of the suspects, Chand Babu Sattat Shaikh alias Mohammed Abdul, that he is minor, aged only 16 years. The police however have rubbished this claim, saying that the birth certificate furnished by the family shows signs of tampering. 

 

They added that police records show that the accused was 17 years of age, when he was booked for theft in 2011.

 

The photojournalist, who worked as an intern with an English magazine, was gang-raped by five men on Thursday evening when she had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound in Lower Parel with a male colleague on assignment.