Delhi Court issues warrant against 4 accused in Cantonment gang rape & murder case

Delhi’s Patiala House Court, on Friday, September 10, took cognizance of the charge sheet filed in the heinous gang rape and murder case of a nine-year-old in Delhi’s cantonment area. Hearing the matter, the Patiala House Court has issued production warrants against all the four accused in the case, directing them to be produced on the next hearing of the matter, on September 29.

The production warrants were issued on the order of Additional Sessions Judge Ashutosh Kumar, who took note of the fresh FIR filed by the Delhi Police in the case. In the charge sheet, Police has listed four accused - Kuldeep Singh, Laxmi Narayan, Radhey Shyam and Salim Ahmad, who are currently under judicial custody.

Court issues production warrant against 4 accused in Cantonment Gang rape case

The charge sheet has been filed under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act.

As per the ANI, the Delhi Police sources have quashed claims made by all four accused that the victim died due to electrocution. The Crime Branch sources informed that after the recreation of the crime scene by the experts, no possibility of the victim dying by electrocution was discovered.

The police sources told ANI that there was no chance of a short circuit in the water cooler. The Crime Branch had recreated the scene, after which they got a report prepared by the forensic lab to prove this theory. The Crime Branch has also found that the priest used to get 'massages' from the girl. 

The case has been sent to a Special Investigation Team (SIT). All technical and other pieces of evidence were examined and brought on record under the supervision of top personnel. According to reports, none of the four accused has been granted a clean chit, and the SIT has enough evidence to convict all four. The matter was initially handled by the local police station, but it was later transferred to the crime branch for expedited investigation. Rakesh Asthana, the Delhi Police Commissioner, gave the order for the case to be transferred.

Delhi Cantonment rape case

On August 1, a nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and killed by a priest and three employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi, the police had said.  A case was registered against four accused based on the statement by the child's mother, who alleged that her daughter was raped, murdered, and cremated without their consent. One of the accused was a priest and the other three worked in a crematorium. The mother had also alleged that the priest used to physically harass the victim and was addicted to porn movies.

Later, her mother informed the villagers, who gathered at the spot and protested. The police had to intervene, and a case was finally lodged. 

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