Mumbai gang-rape: Accused ’lost and found’ in major confusion

Mangalore Today /DHNS

Mumbai, Sep 26, 2013 : One of the five accused in the gang-rape of a young photojournalist in Mumbai was reported ’untraceable’ and later ’found’, in a monumental slip-up that comes close after a terror suspect escaped from a court hearing exposing a massive security breach.

Siraj Rehman Khan, who was supposed to be in the custody of the Thane Jail authorities, was not produced in court today as two departments of Maharashtra police argued over who had him.

"He is very much in jail, he has not escaped," said Additional DG Prisons Thane.

Yet, Thane jail authorities inexplicably told the court today that they did not have the accused, the Crime Branch did. The Mumbai Crime Branch, in turn, denied having Khan.

Reports suggest it could be a clerical error that caused confusion. Record keeping at the overcrowded and under-staffed Thane jail is largely manual.

Last week, Afzal Usmani, a suspected member of terror group Indian Mujahideen and accused of serial bomb blasts in Gujarat in which at least 50 people were killed, escaped from a court, triggering a massive manhunt

The Mumbai Police had last week filed a charge sheet on Thursday against the five accused of raping the 22-year-old girl inside the desolate Shakti Mills compound on August 22 while she was on an assignment with a colleague.

Siraj Rehman Khan, along with Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and a minor, allegedly assaulted the colleague and tied him up in belts before taking turns to rape the girl, holding a broken beer bottle to her head.

The police had arrested all the accused in less than 72 hours after the crime, which outraged the nation and had disturbing parallels to the Delhi gang-rape for which four men were sentenced to death a fortnight ago.