In a recent development, a Delhi court handed down the death penalty to three individuals for the gangrape and murder of a woman, along with her two young children, a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. The convicts initially used a screwdriver to kill the woman and then strangled her.
Subsequently, they took the lives of her two children and also committed robbery in their house. This incident occurred within the jurisdiction of the Khyala police station.
The case was first reported in 2015, when the deceased woman’s husband filed a complaint. Four individuals, including a juvenile, were implicated in the heinous crimes. Special Fast Track Court Judge Aanchal of Tis Hazari Court has sentenced Shahid, Akram, and Rafat Ali, also known as Manzoor Ali, to the death penalty for their involvement in murder (Section 302) and criminal conspiracy (Section 120B).
Additionally, they have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their convictions related to gang rape and robbery. Each convict has also been fined Rs 35,000 by the court. The accused individuals were found guilty by the court on August 22.
“There is a constant chain of evidence when the three accused were seen going upstairs to the place of incident and thereafter the heinous crime of three murders, one rape, and robbery came into light;
Thereafter, the four, including the three accused and juvenile, left Delhi one after another, then met at Aligarh on September 23, 2015, where the proceeds of the offense were distributed and disposed off, and the t-shirts of the three accused, the scree-driver, and the weapon of the commission of murder of “S” were found bearing bloodstains of the deceased, and none of the accused presented any hypothesis inconsistent with the finding of their guilt,” the court said.
The court confirmed that Shahid, Rafat Ali, and Akram were indeed involved in a conspiracy in this case.
“Call records and accompanying evidence in the form of the recoveries effected in pursuance of disclosure statements prove that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the conspiracy existed between accused Shahid, Akram, and Rafat Ali and one JCL before the date of the incident, even on September 19, 2015, and it continued till September 23, 2015, the day when the proceeds of the crime were shared amongst the accused persons,” the court noted.
Additionally, the court observed a consistent pattern where calls were not made consecutively but had intervals of a few minutes or hours between them.
Rafat Ali left Delhi on September 21, 2015, at about 10 a.m., and thereafter Shahid reached Anand Vihar, Delhi, at 10:29 p.m. on the same day, September 21, 2015, to leave Delhi, and then his location was at Aligarh at 10:34 a.m. on September 22, 2015,” the court said.
The court made a noteworthy observation, stating that the juvenile had been within the roaming network since 08:20 am on September 22, 2015, while Akram was outside of Delhi’s network even at 08:20 am on September 23, 2015. However, the court noted a consistent pattern of communication, with calls occurring between the individual who departed Delhi and Shahid, followed by calls between Shahid and Rafat Ali.
This pattern persisted even when the accused, who had left Delhi, reached their destination.
The court observed, “It is very strange that frequent calls were being exchanged between the SIM used by Shahid and Akram only around the time that matches the time of the commission of three murders, and a number of calls were exchanged between them only on the date of the commission of the offense and on September 23, 2015, the day when they were at Aligarh.”
“Therefore, though no content of the calls is on record, their call records show very unusual conduct, indicating intensely their involvement in the commission of the offenses of three murders, rape, and robbery,” the judge said.
“These are proved as a link connecting them to the crime of the present case, and these are also the evidence that proves that the four accused, Rafat Ali, Shahid, Akram, and Juvenile, were sharing a common agreement to commit the offense, which is proving that the accused Rafat Ali, Shahid, Akram, and Juvenile were sharing a common agreement to commit the offense,” the court further noted.
The FIR in this case was filed by the deceased woman’s husband and the father of their two deceased children. The tragic incident occurred on September 21, 2015, when the complainant, who had been living in a rented house in Raghubir Nagar, Delhi, with his wife S and their two sons (aged seven years and one year) and three daughters (aged six years, three years, and two years), returned home from a business trip to Jaipur.
He discovered a distressing scene on the second floor of their house; the door was locked from the outside. Upon entering, he found his wife, one son, and one daughter dead with signs of injury. His other three children were sleeping on the floor. His wife’s neck was tied with a scarf, and his daughter’s neck was tied with a handkerchief. He immediately called for help from his brother-in-law and another person, and someone contacted the police.
The complainant had suspicions regarding his landlord, Fahim, in connection with the murder of his wife and children. He reported missing jewelry and money from the house. Additionally, another tenant, Shabbu, who lived on the first floor of the same house, mentioned that he had seen Akram, ‘H’ (a minor), and two other boys entering the room of the deceased around 9:45 p.m. the previous night.
The complainant suspected Akram, H, and their associates of taking the missing items and committing murder. He provided Akram’s father’s name and address and indicated his familiarity with Akram and H. The case was initially filed under Section 376 (Rape) of the IPC based on the post-mortem report of S.
Later, based on information received from an informant, two suspects, Shahid and Mohd. Akram, were apprehended on October 4, 2015, near HMP Raghuvir Nagar. During interrogation, they confessed to the murder, robbery, and gang rape of the deceased, along with their associates Manzoor and H.
The charges were subsequently modified to Section 376(D) IPC. Shahid was found in possession of a mobile phone with two IMEI numbers and SIM cards, while Akram had a black Lava mobile phone with two IMEIs, SIM cards, and some money. The juvenile was arrested at Khajuri Chowk, and Rafat Ali was arrested in Aligarh.
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