Mumbai gangrape case: Chargesheet likely to be filed this week

Mumbai, Sept 15: Speeding up legal proceedings in the photojournalist's gangrape case that triggered nationwide outrage, Mumbai police is all set file a charge sheet against five accused in a couple of days.

"We are giving final touch to the charge sheet of the gangrape case with whatever evidences we have collected so far. We are working on to file it before a court concerned by Tuesday," a crime branch official said today.

"If we come across some more evidence at a later stage, we will file a supplementary charge sheet," the official said, adding that the state's legal department had also helped them ensure that there is no loophole in the charge sheet. The move comes against the backdrop of clamour for speedy trial in the case.

The victim was allegedly gang-raped by the five on August 22 evening when she had gone to the Shakti Mills compound with a male colleague on an assignment, police said. On September 10, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil had stated that Mumbai police would file a charge sheet in a week's time.

The charge sheet will have the details of the victim's ordeal, witnesses' statements, crucial evidence collected from the spot, DNA analysis reports, phone call records and identification parade information, among others, police said.

The victim was gangraped by five men on August 22 at the Shakti Mill compound.

Police claimed they have more than sufficient evidence against the five arrested accused - Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Bengali, Siraj Rehman Khan and a minor.

The government wants the case to be fast tracked so that the culprits are given harsh punishment at the earliest. A strong piece of evidence is the DNA report which confirmed involvement of all the five accused.

Officials from the Forensic Sciences Laboratories in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad are expected to send their reports to the investigating authority soon.

While the Mumbai and Delhi teams have focused on samples from the crime scene, the Ahmedabad team has recorded voice samples of the five accused.

PTI