In yet another shocker from the national capital, a girl was allegedly gang-raped by three men near the busy ITO Chowk in an auto rickshaw and dumped near the Sarai Kale Khan area of Delhi on October 10. The survivor, then in trauma, walked to Sarai Kale Khan where a person spotted her to finally call the police.

More than three weeks after the incident, the Delhi Police arrested the three accused including the auto driver involved in the gruesome crime. During the interrogation, the accused confessed that on October 10, Pramod aka Babu, who is an alcohol addict, closed his shop as per his usual routine and got drunk. He noticed a girl sitting nearby. Shortly after, another accused Mohammad Shamshul, who is a beggar, alcohol addict and physically handicapped, arrived at the scene. Both accused persons conspired to sexually assault the girl, assuming she was mentally unwell and an “easy target". Together, they forcibly dragged the girl to a deserted area to commit the crime.

During this time, an auto driver accused Prabhu Mahto, witnessed the incident and joined them with the intent of getting involved in the crime. Subsequently, accused Prabhu Mahto again forced the girl into his auto and allegedly raped her. Thereafter, Mahto dumped the victim near Sarai Kale Khan and drove away.

After the incident, the girl was in trauma and started walking on the road in a “semi-nude" state with grievous injuries on her body. The police said the survivor was not in a state to talk and, hence, her official statement has still not been recorded.

To take the investigation forward, Delhi Police took special permission from the management staff of AIIMS Trauma Centre, and a woman officer took cover as a social worker while a native Odia lady took cover as a nurse to build trust and gather crucial information from the survivor.

Effectively the police were able to gain crucial details from the survivor on the involvement of “an unknown autorickshaw, three persons and one of them physically disabled/handicapped". However, the survivor was unable to reveal other details regarding the time and place of the incident due to her mental health challenges and the trauma of the incident.
The footage of more than 700 government and private CCTV cameras installed at both major and minor roads starting from the place of recovery of the survivor, i.e., Sarai Kale Khan to Old Delhi Railway Station was scanned. The initial breakthrough was made in the case when the survivor was traced on CCTV footage while exiting the Old Delhi Railway station waiting hall on October 10 at 10:14 AM.
 

More than 150 suspected auto-rickshaws through the combinations of visible and non-visible digits of suspected auto-rickshaws were verified. The CCTV footage covering the route taken by the survivor and the conduct of the accused persons were timely preserved. After sustained efforts, the autorickshaw of the accused was correctly identified. Thereafter, sustained efforts were made to track the accused and he was arrested on October 30. Subsequently, the other accused persons Pramod Babu and Mohammad Shamshul were also identified and arrested on November 2 and 4 respectively.

The survivor is a resident of Puri, Odisha. She is a researcher and community leader with over eight years of experience in the social sector.