SRINAGAR: The state police Crime Branch has completed the investigations in the Kathua kidnapped, rape and murder case of a minor Gujar girl and almost all the accused are in custody. The Mastermind of the case, Sanji Ram, finally surrendered after police had rounded up his son, also accused in the case.
Sources in the police said that the case, that was threatening polarisation in the state and had become a major crisis in the ruling coalition, has reached the logical conclusion. “We have eight persons in custody and all of them are accused,” one police officer said. “These include two cops, two SPOs, the juvenile and his friend who kidnapped and raped the girl and the mastermind father and son.”
The case had led to the mobilisation of the masses in the belt after the Sanji Ram, the retired revenue official, floated a new Hindu group for support of the rape accused. It had a series of protest demonstrations, carrying tricolour. These protests became a new tension for the coalition government after two BJP ministers Lal Singh and C P Ganga visited the spot and supported the people seeking the release of the accused and handing over of the case to the CBI. This had led Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to take up the issue with the central government asking them if they can support rapes and murders of minority juveniles in Jammu as part of the party policy. This was responded by Ram Madhav’s visit to Jammu where he publicly announced that the Crime Branch investigation of the police must go on and the killers should not be arrested. It was later that the man accused was arrested.
Sources said the police had arrested the son of the Sanji Ram which led to his surrender. Now both of them are in police custody and will be presented to the High Court that is supervising the investigations on the petition filed by the father of the slain girl Asifa.
The involvement of the right-wing party in the case had initially led to the arrest of a lawyer by the police. After the case was taken up into the state assembly by the opposition, he was set free. But the lawyer, a vocal voice of the Gujjars in the belt, continued his protest.
The gang of eight people had kidnapped the young girl to scare away the Gujjars from the area. They had influenced the police, which had destroyed the crucial evidence. The motive was to scare away the Gujjars. The gang had prevented the burial of the unfortunate girl in the village simply because they disliked the idea of emergence of a graveyard in their area.
After the case was transferred to the crime branch, the investigations started cautiously but firmly. They first investigated the police role and arrested cops identified as Tilak Rajkumar, Subam Sangra and Pravesh Kumar. Later two SPOs were arrested for being involved in the crime. One of them Deepak Kahjuria was the person who had purchased certain drugs from a chemist that were used in the commissioning of the crime and other Surinder Verma. Prior to that, they had arrested the juvenile who was accused of raping the girl. This is despite the fact that a board of doctors had reportedly termed him major.
Finally, after the investigations were over, the police finally waited for the right time to arrest the mastermind on whose behest the entire conspiracy was implemented. Sanji Ram had known that he is being arrested so he fled from the belt and went underground. After his son Vishal was arrested, he finally surrendered before the police. With this, the investigations were completed and all the accused are in police custody.
Now the accused are being presented before the High Court that is supervising the investigations. It was not immediately known if the police will submit the challan soon or it still needs to investigate any missing link. Right now, Sanji Ram is being investigated for his role in the police custody.
