A special team investigating allegations of sexual abuse against inmates of the Navjeevan Mahila Sudhar Griha in Govandi, will be going back all the way to a suicide that occurred at the shelter in March this year.
Nisha Singh (24), who had been rescued from a bar fronting for a flesh trade racket, had hanged herself from a beam in the bathroom using a dupatta on March 26 this year. She had been lodged at the shelter for a month, when she took the extreme step. “We will be looking into the case and examining its relevance to our probe,” said Him-anshu Roy, JCP (crime).
A special team has been formed by the crime branch to look into the case and will soon record statements of the nearly 350 inmates of the shelter.
“Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Ambadas Pote will be heading the team that is investigating the case. The team includes a number of female police officers as the case involves women and also needs to be handled sensitively,” said Niket Kaushik, additional commissioner of police, crime branch.
Controversy erupted around the shelter after one of the escaped girls alleged that they were regularly raped by armed men more than once.
The Bombay high court had subsequently orde-red a probe into the incident.