Having completed the investigations into the much-discussed Sakinaka rape-and-murder within just 18 days of the incident, the Mumbai Police on Tuesday filed a comprehensive chargesheet against the prime accused for allegedly raping and murdering a 32-year-old woman in the small hours of September 10.
Confirming the development, Mumbai Police Spokesperson and DCP Chaitanya S said: “We have filed a 346-page chargesheet before the Dindoshi Court, within 18 days of the crime”.
Among other things, the police have invoked Sections pertaining to rape and murder and relevant provisions under the SC/ST atrocities act against the lone arrested accused Mohan Chauhan (45).
It may be recalled that within hours after the horrific incident which had caused a nation-wide furore, the accused Chauhan was arrested as he was attempting to flee to his native place Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.
A jobless driver, Chuahan allegedly raped and killed the victim woman in a fit of rage over some monetary disputes.
The chargesheet provides the details of the sequence of events, the causes and other aspects leading to the heinous crime.
The incident took place at an isolated spot in Sakinaka in north Mumbai. Chauhan allegedly perpetrated sexual assault on her, later brutalized her by thrusting an iron rod into her private parts and fled from there.
An alert local security guard called up the Mumbai Police Main Control Room around 3 am that morning and a Sakinaka Police Station team rushed there and immediately shifted her to Rajawadi Hospital, where she succumbed after over 30 hours.
After serious cognisance of the shocking incident, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered the city police to complete the investigations within a month and file a charge-sheet in the case immediately afterwards.
On their part, the Mumbai police completed the investigations in a record 18 days and filed its charge-sheet in the court within 18 days.
The charge-sheet contains the statement of the watchman, other witnesses who had seen the victim and the accused together, the medical teams which attempted to save her and the relatives of the accused.
Following the Sakinaka incident, the Mumbai Police has implemented a series of measures to ensure the safety of women and girls, especially at night, strengthening of existing patrolling and detection methods, etc.
In a letter written to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Chief
Minister had last week had said that the State Government had arrested the culprit behind the Sakinaka incident within ten minutes of the police arriving at the crime scene. He said that his Government had taken various steps to do justice to the victim girl in the Sakinaka incident.
“We will prosecute the accused through a speedy trial and ensure that he gets the strictest punishment. We have instructions to the police to be ever alert in matters relating to providing security to women. We are setting Nirbhaya squads in each and every police station in Mumbai,” the Chief Minister had said.