NEW DELHI: For the police, it was a case with almost no visible trail to follow. The CCTV cameras at the park’s entrance were not working, while the secluded stretches where the crime allegedly took place had little or no lighting. What investigators had instead were fragments: the girl’s account, the nicknames she had heard and descriptions of the clothes worn by the suspects.The women investigating officers began by speaking to the girl and her friend in detail. They gave statements that their description of the suspects was limited, but they remembered the exact colours of their clothes, their nicknames and other small physical details, including their height and features, such as eyes and ears. “She had heard two names,” an investigator said.
Aastha Kunj Park near Nehru Place in southeast Delhi, where a minorgirl was allegedly threatened and gang-raped
Those seemingly minor details became the first threads for investigators to pull. “Once we got the colour of the clothes, one team started working on that aspect, checking CCTV footage and speaking to people nearby who may have noticed someone wearing similar clothes. We started narrowing down the suspects,” the investigator said.The survivor also told cops that the three men had posed as policemen and were using words they had heard police or lawyers use. This provided another lead, and the investigators began looking at whether any of the suspects had some knowledge of law or policing.Five to six police teams from Southeast district, working under the supervision of the DCP and two additional DCPs, fanned out across the area, speaking to guards and people working at nearby establishments, checking movements and combing the areas around the park.“While speaking to locals, a few names came up, including those of two brothers, Hemant and Mukesh, who were frequently seen in the area around the time of the incident. As we started zeroing in, we found that one of the suspects, Asif, used to come from Okhla mandi after wrapping up his vegetable stall, while the other two were residents of Sriniwaspuri. They usually moved around together and were seen in the secluded areas during that time,” the investigator said.The police teams then conducted raids in Okhla. The description provided by the survivor matched one of the suspects, Asif, and his CDR location also placed him near the park around the time of the crime. His movement was captured on CCTV, while his phone was later found switched off.When a team reached his house, however, Asif, who is married and has a daughter, had disappeared. Investigators continued tracking his movements and, on Tuesday morning, managed to locate and intercept him. Police said he opened fire at the team and was injured in retaliatory firing. He was wearing the same clothes that he was wearing at the time of the crime and was carrying an unlicensed pistol, whose source is not known.“Based on his description, we nabbed the two brothers too,” an officer said. “We found several pieces of evidence, including biological evidence, from the spot,” another investigator said.The investigators found that the three suspects were familiar with the park. They used to play cricket there and knew the layout and secluded stretches of the area well. Police said they have not found anything to suggest the girl was previously known to the suspects or that she was specifically targeted. Investigators are also examining whether the trio had been involved in any similar incident in the past.
