Photojournalist gang rape case: 600-page charge sheet filed within record 28 days

“Salim ka phone aaya tha, shikaar karne jaldi chalo (I just received a call from Salim, he asked us to join him on the hunt soon).” This is what one of the accused said arrested in the Shakti Mills gang rape case said, as per the statement of a witness.

The esplanade court, presided over by Magistrate Uday Padwad, on Thursday accepted the charge sheet filed by the crime branch in the Shakti Mills gang  rape case, thereby committing the case to the sessions court.

The witness, Aakash Swami, 20, resides on Sane Guruji Marg in Mahalaxmi with his family and works as a daily wage labourer. In his statement, he claimed that he knew all the accused very well and that they would always meet at a spot to play card games.

Aakash’s statement reads: “On August 22, the minor accused, Kasim Sheikh, Siraj Khan alias Sirju and I were playing cards in our area. Between 5.30pm and 5.45pm, Kasim received a call on his mobile phone. I realised that Salim Ansari had called him. Accordingly, he immediately informed the minor as well as Siraj Khan about the development. Kasim said Salim had informed him that the prey had arrived and that they had to leave urgently.”

The statement goes on to add: “However, only Sirju and Kasim stopped playing and prepared to leave. When I asked Kasim about the prey, he told me that they were referring to a deer and rushed from the spot. The minor and I continued playing. After some time, even the minor received a call from Salim. The minor then informed me that Salim had called him on the spot and hence he had to rush. However, since I was unaware of the dreadful intentions of the accused, I thought they left because they were losing the game.”

Aakash further claimed that on the same day, at around 7.45pm, he had called Kasim, but he didn’t receive the call. Later, Kasim called him back and informed him that he would not be coming to play. “I then went to their houses, but none of them were present. It was only on the next day when I read the newspaper that I realised what they had been talking about,” the statement adds.

At one point, the charge sheet also states that when the photojournalist was being raped, one of the accused, while threatening her with dire consequences, claimed, “You don’t know what a cruel person I am. You’re not the first girl we have raped. Before you, we raped a number of girls and till date, no one has been able to catch us.”