Mumbai: Asserting that stringent action will be taken against the culprits in the Mumbai gangrape case, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the trial will be held in a fast track court.
Chavan had on Friday visited the Jaslok Hospital, where the photojounalist is undergoing treatment. The Chief Minister had then assured the girl's family that precautions would be taken to ensure that her identity was not revealed.
Meanwhile, the condition of the 23-year-old is improving steadily. "The patient's condition is steadily improving. Our team of experts is continuously monitoring her," doctors attending to the girl said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the Crime Branch arrested the fifth and the last accused from Delhi-Haryana border in the gangrape case. Delhi Police sources claimed that the accused was trying to seek transit refuge at a relative's place and was arranging to flee to Bangladesh via Kishanganj, Bihar. According to sources, he was being taken to Rohini court where he will be produced. Mumbai Police will seek his transit remand.
The fourth accused was also arrested in the morning by Mumbai Crime Branch. The third and fourth accused were produced in the Metropolitan Magistrate's court. They will be in police custody till August 30.
The first accused in the case was arrested on Friday and had reportedly confessed to his crime while he also identified the other four. The second accused was arrested from a South Mumbai video parlour late on Friday night and the third accused was arrested on Saturday.
Meanwhile, mother of one of the accused in the gangrape case said that her son should be punished if he was a culprit. "If the victim identifies my son as culprit then he should be punished," she said. She, however, claimed that he son is innocent. "My son is innocent because he has never been involved in such acts before," she said.
The survivor's statement on Saturday to the police revealed how they led the photojournalist into a trap before brutalising her. The photojournalist, who was allegedly gangraped by five men at Shakti Mill in Parel area of central Mumbai, said, "Rape is not the end of life. I want strictest punishment for all the accused and want to join duty as early as possible".
This is the message the young photojournalist has sent out from her hospital bed to people who feel outraged at her gangrape by five men at the abandoned Shakti Mills compound.
Meanwhile, the grandmother of another accused in the gangrape case, said that her grandson was not present at the scene of the crime at the time of the incident and that he had run away. In fact, she showed CNN-IBN his tampered birth date card, claiming that he is a minor.
Speaking to CNN-IBN, the grandmother of one of the five accused had said she herself took her grandson to the police. "The police did not arrest my grandson. I took him to the police station and got him arrested."
Police sources had said beer bottles that were allegedly used by the perpetrators for threatening the survivor have been recovered. Sources had said the clothes of the first accused have also been recovered. Police sources had also said that two of the five accused have house breaking and dacoity charges registered against them.
Sources said three of the accused had mobile phones and the records are being analysed. The rape survivor's mother had called her twice before the incident but the accused forced her to say everything was alright, police sources said. They also said that after the incident, the male colleague called the boss and the girl's mother.
The 23-year-old photojournalist was allegedly gangraped by five men on Thursday evening at Shakti Mill in Parel area of Central Mumbai. The woman was accompanied by a male colleague, who was gagged and bound while she was raped.
With Additional Inputs From PTI
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