The Prosecution in the Kopardi minor girl rape and murder case on Friday argued before a special court (POCSO Act) at Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra on Friday that though the two of the accused were not physically present at the crime scene, they had conspired with the prime accused in the commission of the heinous act.
Continuing his final arguments before the court of Ahmednagar district Sessions Judge Suvarna Keole, Special Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam informed the court that all the three accused — Jitendra, alias Pappu Babulal Shinde (26), Santosh Gorkha Bhawal (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (28) — were part of the conspiracy behind the crime that saw the prime accused Jitendra Shinde allegedly rape the victim and strangle her death.
Adducing the evidence produced by the Prosecution, Nikam contended that while it was not the Prosecution’s case that the accused number two (Santosh Bhawal) and the accused number three (Nitin Bhilume) had actually committed the crime, but were looking forward to such an opportunity to do so. He also said that there was evidence to suggest that all the three accused were lying wait for the victim girl in the neighbourhood of the crime site.
Nikam argued that though they were not actually present at the crime scene, the accused number two (Santosh Bhawal) and the accused number three (Nitin Bhilume) were very much present in the neighbourhood of the crime site.
To substantiate his point, Nikam said that there was evidence to suggest Nitin Bhilume (the accused number three) had received a brief missed call from the prime accused Jitendra Shinde from the crime site. At that time, Bhilume and Bhawal were in the neighbourhood of the crime site, he said.
Contesting the arguments put forth by the defence lawyers that the accused were not actually residents of the victim girl’s village, Nikam argued that the question of residence did not arise in the context of the crime but what was important to the case was their location at the time of the incident.
Nikam, who produced 24 pieces of evidence to buttress his final arguments, said that while there was medical evidence to prove the involvement of the prime accused Jitendra Shinde in the sexual act and that there was circumstantial evidence to prove that Shinde killed the victim girl, the Prosecution had evidence to prove the involvement of two other accused — Santosh Bhawal and Nitin Bhilume—had “helped” the prime accused commit the crime by being part of the conspiracy.
The Prosecution’s original case was that the victim girl, who belonged to the dominant Maratha community, was brutally raped on the night of July 13, 2016 allegedly by three Dalits who inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.
The fast-track court had on November 9 last year framed charges against the three accused under various Sections of the IPC and POSCO Act for allegedly perpetrating a sexual assault on the victim girl and strangulating her to death. Nikam will in all likelihood close his final arguments on Saturday.