The two main accused in last week’s Dhaula Kuan gangrape of a woman BPO employee from the Northeast were arrested by the Delhi police in an overnight raid in two villages of Mewat in Haryana.
The third accused, Shahid alias Chhota Billi, had surrendered on November 25 at a court in Haryana, but in connection with a cow slaughter case.
Of the five accused in the rape case, two are still on the run. They have been identified as Kamru alias Mobile and Iqbal alias Badda Billi. Shahid had surrendered a day after the incident when he got to know that the Delhi police was looking for him as a suspect in the rape case.
Delhi police commissioner B.K. Gupta said the two arrested men have been identified as Shamshad alias Khutkan, 25, and Usman alias Kale, 25, who was involved in a rape case earlier as well and was out on bail. Both are Haryana residents.
The police on Thursday recovered a Mahindra pickup van believed to have been used in the crime from the two arrested men. They have been charged with abduction, rape and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Mr Gupta said the victim, who works in Convergys in Gurgaon, had given them some specific clues which helped to crack the case. “The victim had seen a flowery painting on the rear side of the vehicle and ‘MUSKAAN’ written on the front windshield. After the crime, the accused took out 15 `10 notes from a bundle folded with a rubber band and gave it to the victim to board a vehicle back home.” On getting this information, the police scanned 72 dossiers of criminals operating in the national capital region and over 8,000 vehicles were verified. “These were specific clues and our force narrowed down the investigation to three groups whose activities were found suspicious, and they were thoroughly questioned. The search for similar rape cases was also made and criminals charged in such cases and out on bail were verified,” Mr Gupta said.
On Wednesday night, the police got a tipoff that members of a gang matching the description given by the victim were hiding in the Dhauj and Tani areas of Mewat. “A team of 300 police personnel raided the areas and the two were apprehended. They are involved in cases of cow slaughter and burglaries in the past,” joint commissioner of police (south) Amulya Patnaik said.
On the fateful night, the accused were headed for Outer Delhi to commit a burglary when they saw two girls in a Tavera car. “They chased the Tavera till the two girls were dropped on the main Ring Road. Finding the two alone, the accused started chasing them. They were drunk and Kamru was carrying a revolver. He abducted the victim at gunpoint and put her in the van’s front seat. They avoided the main road towards Mangolpuri, and criss-crossed various areas before reaching Mangolpuri, where they took turns to rape her. Later they gave her money for conveyance,” Mr Patnaik said.