Sakinaka rape and murder: Police finish probe, chargesheet filed in 18 days

The police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet in the Sakinaka rape and murder case in a court in Mumbai, 18 days after a 34-year-old woman was raped and brutalised with an iron rod by a man, an official said. The 345-page chargesheet was filed in the Dindoshi sessions court. The woman was raped and brutally assaulted on her private parts with a rod in a stationary vehicle at the Sakinaka area on September 10 by a 45-year-old man. She died during treatment at civic-run Rajawadi Hospital the next day of the incident due to heavy blood loss. The accused was later arrested.

The incident, which brought back the memories of the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder, caused a huge outrage. The opposition had accused the Shiv Sena-led MVA government of failing to protect women in Maharashtra which triggered a letter war between state Governor BS Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. In the wake of the incident, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to complete the probe in one month.

An FIR was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the arrested man. The SIT led by ACP Jyotsna Rasam investigated the case in 18 days and collected the evidence against the accused which includes medical reports, chemical analysis, forensic findings etc., the official said. Police recorded statements of 77 witnesses in the case, he said.

Following the incident, a team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) met the family members of a woman, and also visited the crime spot as well as the hospital where she was treated. The commission members then visited the office of the state Director General of Police (DGP) in connection with the case.

Vice-chairman of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, Arun Haldar, also visited the victim's family and discussed the case with the police officials. Talking to reporters, Haldar said the accused should be given capital punishment. "We have been assured that the chargesheet will be filed in a month and the trial will be done on fast track. I met the victim's family and they will get financial aid, a home and assistance for education and job as per the laid-down rules," he had said at the time.

With IANS and PTI inputs

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