Mumbai:
The arrests of the accused in the gang rape of the 22-year-old photojournalist at Shakti Mills have opened up a can of worms revealing their criminal and heinous pasts. Cops have learnt that an FIR of molestation and kidnapping had been registered against Siraj Rehman Khan, one of the accused in the gang rape of the photojournalist, at the Agripada police station.
According to the FIR, which was filed by the victim's three daughters yesterday, Khan, a resident of Dhobi Talao, had pulled their mother aside on August 19 when she had stepped out to answer nature's call at night and had attempted to rape her but the elder daughter came to her rescue.
The 50-year-old victim's daughter said, "My mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis, had stepped out to answer nature's call. Siraj was in the area and drunk when he pulled her and tried to rape her. But, I reached just in time and slapped him."
The daughter added, "After the incident, my mother died on August 26, at Kasturba Hospital owing to TB. We now have our aunt from Uttar Pradesh to stay with us. After the incident, we had not registered a complaint but had informed the Agripada police of the incident following which Siraj was called in by the authorities and given a sound thrashing."
Vinayak Deshmukh, deputy commissioner of police (Zone III), confirming the incident, said, "We have registered a molestation and kidnapping case against Siraj based on the description the daughters of the victim have provided us. We have also learnt that Siraj had raped a transgender but has refused to register the offence. We will now take Siraj into custody on the basis of the molestation case."
Meanwhile, all the four accused arrested in the photojournalist's case have been sent to judicial custody till September 19 by the Killa court. "We will carry out the identification parade of the accused in the judicial custody and will again seek their police custody on basis of the second rape registered by another survivor as the cases have been transferred to us from the NM Joshi Marg police," said police official from Crime Branch.
One accused still at large
The police are on the lookout for Mohammad Ashfaq Dawood Shaikh, one of the accused in the gang rape of a 19-year-old at the same site. Authorities said that he first switched off his phone and then fled to Hyderabad and then Kolkata. The police have also learnt the accused used to pose as railway men, policemen, and mill owner's workers.