Breakthrough in BPO rape case, two arrested (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - More than a week after a call centre employee was abducted and gangraped, Delhi Police said Thursday two of the five accused had been arrested and a third had surrendered in Haryana. The breakthrough came from studying the way the rapists had folded the Rs.10 notes given to the victim to reach home.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.G.S Dhaliwal said they got a lead from the Rs.10 notes given to the victim by the accused so that she could make her way back home.

“The Rs.10 denomination notes given by the criminals to the victim were vertically folded with a rubber band, pointing toward a few particular types of probable group of criminals. It was ascertained that currency notes of Rs.10 denomination are normally kept in bundles by Mewati criminals to pay toll tax,” he said.

“It was a herculean task to crack this case as we did not get much clues from the crime scene. It was a blind case,” Delhi Police Commisioner B.K. Gupta said.

According to police, 15 special teams with over 300 policemen were investigating the case, and over 6,000 goods vehicles were checked in the past one week.

Shamshad and Usman, both in their early 20s, were arrested from Haryana’s Mewat district Wednesday night. One of their accomplices Shahid, who was jailed two days ago in a cow slaughtering case, surrendered in a Ballabgarh court Thursday.

Police are now on the lookout for Kamru and Iqbal, both 25 years old, who have previously involved in crimes like murder and gangrape.

Both Shamshad and Usman too have criminal backgrounds and have been involved in gangrape cases earlier.

According to police, the five accused were drunk and the rape was not premeditated.

“While they were driving, the accused saw the two girls in the Tavera cab. The victims were dropped at a very deserted place. They (the gang members) did not have any premeditated motive of committing rape that night. It was a spur of the moment decision,” Gupta said.

Seeking to refute allegations about the police’s response not being prompt, Gupta said that within a few minutes of the woman being abducted, a policeman rushed to the spot and even tried to follow the vehicle.

“The victim’s friend was talking to the official in English which he could not understand. But he still ran after the vehicle sensing something wrong. Police’s response was prompt,” Gupta maintained.

“The call to the PCR van came after 20 minutes of abduction,” he added

According to police, the five accused were well versed with the routes and after committing the crime, went back to their homes in Mewat district.

“They were well versed with the routes. Criminals from that area (Mewat) usually commit crimes in the Delhi/NCR region and go back to Mewat. The district has a huge number of criminals,” Gupta said.

On the low visibility of PCR vans in the city at night, Gupta said with a 15 million population and only 80,000 policemen, manning every area was a tough task.

According to police sources, two other pending rape cases are being looked into now with police getting leads on the cases after these arrests.

The 30-year-old BPO staffer from Mizoram was Nov 23 abducted by five men and gangraped in a moving goods carrier.

She was abducted soon after being dropped along with another girl, 100 metres from her home, by her office vehicle in the Dhaula Kuan area in south Delhi late at night.

The men then drove all the way to Mongolpuri in north Delhi and dumped her there after raping her.