Snake gang case, in which a group of alleged criminals used a snake to terrorise and rape a teenaged girl, has taken a serious turn following allegations that the accused tried to bribe the local police to reach a “compromise” with the victim.
Pahadi Shareef police inspector, Bhaskar Reddy has been transferred following the allegations of bribery and alleged disappearance of memory cards and video CDs of alleged illegal activities of the gang. Cyberabad Police Commissioner CV Anand who was personally monitoring the case, has shifted the detective inspector P Sreedhar to Pahadi Shareef police station and has ordered a probe against his predecessor Bhaskar Reddy.
Assistance Commissioner, Shamshabad division has also been shunted out from the case and investigations into the gang-rape was now taken over by the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Janaki Sharmila.
After the complaints that the families of the accused were exerting pressure on the victim for a compromise, Janaki Sharmila met the girl and instilled confidence in her. She gave her mobile number and asked her to contact immediately in case of any harassment.
It has been alleged that the family of the accused had offered a bribe of `2,00,000 to the police to influence the girl. Pahadi Shareef police has already booked a case under Nirbhay Act against nine accused, seven of whom have already been arrested.
The allegations of mishandling against the local police were leveled at a time when a local court has granted police the custody of three main accused including a gang leader Faisal Dayyani, Salam Hamdi and Khadar Barakaba.
Senior police officials were also questioning Pahadi Shareef inspector Bhaskar Reddy about the missing video record of the activities of the gang. The inspector had also come under the lenses of senior officials when the victims revealed that he had initially refused to register the complaint of the gang-rape.
The victim alleged that the “snake gang” had attacked a farmhouse on city outskirts and after overpowering her fiancé, and terrorising her with a snake, raped her. The gang had also made a video of their crime and threaten to publish it on Facebook if she lodged a complaint.
The issue was now threatening to snowball in to a political controversy as the BJP women's wing held a protest in the city on Thursday. City BJP President B Venkat Reddy demanded a CBI inquiry in to the case. He also urged the government to transfer entire staff of Pahadi Shareef Police Station as they can try to damage the evidence and weaken the case.
Meanwhile in another case of alleged abduction and a gang rape of a 21 year old woman in Medipally police station in Ranga Reddy district. Police said that the woman with her relatives was travelling by an auto from Uppal to Bhongir when a five member gang followed it in a vehicle and forcibly toom away her to a deserted place in Narapally and raped her. Uppal police inspector Ravi Kiran Reddy said that while four members of the gang were arrested the kingpin identified as Ravi was absconding. The vehicle used in the crime was owned by Ravi, he said.