Five teenagers arrested in connection with the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in a car on May 28 were questioned by Hyderabad police on Saturday. Until far, the police had only questioned the accused, who is a major.
The youngsters were transported from Juvenile Home, where they had been held since their detention a few days before, to Jubilee Hills police station.
The police had requested that the Juvenile Home administrators arrange for the youngsters to be questioned on their grounds, but this was not possible. After that, the kids were taken to the police station.
The kids, known as Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) by the police, will be questioned every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CCL will be turned over to Juvenile Home after 5 p.m.
Three CCLs were placed in police custody for five days by the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday. They could not be questioned on Friday, however, because the day had been lost in the disagreement about the interrogation place.
With the Board authorising the remaining two CCLs to be held in police custody for five days on Friday, the police opted to bring them all to the police station for simultaneous but separate questioning.
To force CCL to confess to the crime, the detectives are likely to show him the evidence acquired by the police against them, including CCTV footage.
In the meantime, investigators continued to question Saduddin Malik, the lone main suspect in the high-profile case. On Saturday, police officers interrogated him for the third day in a row.
The police are attempting to put together the sequence of events as well as the roles performed by each of the perpetrators in order to establish a compelling case against the accused.
The authorities also intend to rebuild the crime scene and run potency tests on the suspects. A potency test is a medical procedure that determines whether or not a person is capable of sexual activity.
If necessary, the police may petition the court to extend Malik’s police custody, which is set to expire on Sunday.
According to reports, authorities are also gathering information from the suspects about who assisted them in fleeing the scene of the crime. The suspects were reportedly apprehended in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Goa, among other states.
Because the accused came from politically powerful families, authorities have been chastised for being too lenient on those who assisted them in fleeing or may have interfered with the evidence.
Four of the five accused of sexually assaulting the girl are between the ages of 16 and 17. The leading suspect, 18-year-old Malik, is the sixth accused.
The sixth person charged with molestation is only a month away from turning 18. He is the son of a member of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Majlis-e-Ittehad (MIM).
The leader also serves as the chairman of a government-run organisation. In Greater Hyderabad and Sangareddy, two others are alleged to be sons of TRS corporators. One of them is claimed to have played a crucial part in luring the victim into the car and confining her.
Malik (18) and four CCL have been booked under IPC’s Sections 376 D (gang rape), 323 (causing hurt), Section 5 (G) (gang penetrative sexual assault on child) read with Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 366 (kidnapping a woman) and 366 A (procuration of a minor girl) and Section 67 of Information Technology Act.
Police say the accused could face punishment for not less than 20 years or imprisonment for life till death or even death penalty.
The sixth CCL was not involved in rape but he kissed the victim in the car. He has been booked under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 and Section 9 (G) read with 10 of POCSO Act. He could face 5-7 years imprisonment.
The incident occurred on May 28 after the victim and accused attended a daytime party at a pub in upscale Jubilee Hills.
(with inputs from IANS)