Crime Branch files supplementary charge sheet in Kathua rape and murder case

Pathankot: Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Crime Branch on Monday filed a supplementary charge sheet in kathua rape and murder case before a court in Pathankot.

The charge sheet, according to officials, includes medical opinion about the effect of sedatives on the victim as well as the location of Vishal, son of Sanji Ram.

Ram is alleged to be the mastermind behind the brutal abduction, rape and killing of the nomadic minor girls.

Vishal had claimed he had never visited Kathua, officials said.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that Senior Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police (Crime Branch) R K Jalla, accompanied by Special Public Prosecutor J K Chopra and other lawyers, submitted the charge sheet before District and Sessions Judge Tejwinder Singh, the officials said.

“The charge sheet includes medical opinion about the effect of sedatives on the victim as well as the location of Vishal, son of Sanji Ram, alleged to be the mastermind behind the abduction and killing in January this year. Vishal had claimed he had never visited Kathua,” the PTI reported.

“The Crime Branch has arrested Ram, his son Vishal and his juvenile nephew, two special police officers Deepak Khajuria alias ‘Dipu’ and Surender Verma and friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu. All of them were named in the first charge sheet on April 9,” the agency reported.

Crime branch has also arrested head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Sanji Ram and destroyed crucial evidence, the agency reported

Raj and Dutta have since been dismissed from service.

The supplementary charge sheet has summed up the investigation, which alleges that Kumar was not only in constant touch with co-accused Khajuria but also in contact with Raj.

Raj is believed to have played a pivotal role in striking a deal between Ram and the police for destruction of evidence.

The PTI reported that the charge sheet has also submitted Kumar’s detailed call analysis to show he shared a common location with other accused on crucial dates of crime and immediately thereafter.

“The duration of the calls made and their frequency increased after the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl, leading to the “irresistible conclusion of knee deep involvement of accused Surinder Kumar with other accused…”, the charge sheet states.

The Crime Branch also conducted an analysis of the two bank accounts of Ram, custodian of the temple where the child was allegedly confined, and found he made huge cash withdrawals, the news agency stated.

Witness statements recorded by the Crime Branch confirmed the accused had undertaken no constructional activity and had no social obligation either, the document says.

The Crime Branch alleged in its charge sheet that the withdrawals were made to bribe the police officers for destruction of evidence, PTI reported.

The case had stirred a nation wide outrage after police chargesheet was filed as it narrated the horrific details of the crime. The case was shifted from jammu court to pathankot.

According to police charge sheet the crime was committed to drive away the nomadic tribe from the area and to instill fear in them.

Two BJP ministers had rallied in support of the accused and subsequently had to lose their posts.

BJP was the coalition partner of the state government with the PDP. The duo later parted ways and the state of Jammu and Kashmir since has come under Governors rule.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.