A 32-year-old woman, a mother of two, died after being subjected to sexual assault in the early hours of Friday in Mumbai.
Based on the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of various cameras covering the scene of the crime and its nearby areas, the Mumbai police team investigating the case has identified and arrested Mohan Chauhan (45), a resident of Kurla. He was produced in court on Saturday afternoon and remanded in police custody till September 21.
According to the police, the incident came to light at around 3.20 a.m. on Friday, when a watchman of a cardboard company on the Khairani Road in Saki Naka called the police control room reporting that a woman was being assaulted by a man inside a tempo near the factory.
“Personnel from the Saki Naka police station reached the spot within ten minutes and found the victim. She had serious injuries and was lying in the back of the tempo. They obtained the keys of the tempo and went straight to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, where the victim was admitted in an unconscious condition. Treatment was started right away,” Hemant Nagrale, Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, told reporters.
While the city police formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident, opposition BJP demanded capital punishment for the accused and questioned if women were safe in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray termed the incident a “blot on humanity”.
“The trial in the case will be held on a fast track and the victim, who succumbed to injuries today, will get justice,” he said in a statement. He has discussed the case with state Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil and Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale, Thackeray added.
The Sakinaka area in the western suburbs has several industrial units. According to police, accused Mohan Chouhan (45) worked as a driver and lived on the pavement in the same area.
Besides being raped, the victim woman was assaulted with an iron rod in her private parts and lost a lot of blood, a police official said. She had also been stabbed with a knife, he added.
His blood-stained clothes were seized. They would be sent for forensic analysis to find out if it is the victim’s blood, the commissioner added.
A Special Investigation Team has been formed to conduct the probe, he said.
“Assistant Commissioner of Police Jyotsna Rasam will be the investigation officer. The probe will be completed within a month, and the case will be tried before a fast-track court as the chief minister announced,” the commissioner said.
“As the victim was unconscious, her statement could not be recorded. Therefore police are as yet clueless about what exactly happened. But it will be ascertained during the investigation,” Nagrale said.
The probe so far has revealed the involvement of only one person in the crime, the commissioner said.
On Friday the police had booked the accused under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 376 (rape), 323 (assault) and 34 (common intention). After the victim died, section 302 (murder) was added, while section 34 was dropped as the involvement of any other person in the crime has not come to light, a police release said.