19-yr-old files plaint of rape against Mumbai gangrape accused

Another case of sexual assault by the five accused in the Mumbai photojournalist gangrape case has come to light with a 19-year-old woman filing a complaint that she too was raped by some of the culprits in the gang at the defunct Shakti Mills compound here.
The victim lodged a complaint at Bhandup Police Station in eastern suburbs yesterday stating that she had been raped on July 31 by some those arrested in the photojournalist case, Deputy Police Commissioner Vinayak Deshmukh told PTI.
According to police, the victim had gone to Mahalaxmi area for some work and was also accompanied by a male friend, when the culprits, in a similar modus operandi to the August 22 gang rape, tricked her and took her to the dilapidated mill.

Her male friend was also tied by the accused before they raped the woman, as they did while committing the offence on the photojournalist, police said.
The case was later transferred to N M Joshi Marg police station as the mill falls under its jurisdiction.
According to police, two or three men of the gang involved in raping the photojournalist were also part of the group which sexually assaulted the 19-year-old.

"For clues on the wanted accused in the case, several persons have been rounded up for questioning and a suspect has been detained," said an official involved in the probe.

On August 22, the 23-year-old photojournalist had been gangraped by five persons at the desolate mill, when she was on an assignment with a male colleague.
All the five accused - Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, Mohammed Kasim, Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Bengali and Siraj Rehman Khan and a minor - were arrested in the journalist's case and are currently in crime branch custody.
During interrogation, the gangrape accused had told the police that they made several women their victims in last six months including the young photojournalist, a ragpicker and a commercial sex worker.
The crime branch has also begun interrogation of the arrested accused about the July 31 rape, police said.