The Hyderabad police were granted custody of Saduddin Malik (18), the only major among the six accused in the sensational Jubilee Hills gang rape case.
Malik was among the first arrested in the case that came to light last week and sparked national outrage. His police custody of an undisclosed period for questioning in the case begins on Thursday.
The city police have reportedly sought the custody of the five Children in Conflict with Law, who are lodged in a juvenile home. Four of them and Malik are facing serious charges of raping the 17-year-old girl in an Innova officially allotted for use by a top functionary of the Telangana Waqf Board. This VIP is closely related to one of the juveniles.
Revealing the case details on Tuesday, Hyderabad police commissioner CV Anand said that the five accused could face the death penalty or life imprisonment till death for their heinous crime.
Prior to the rape, the girl was abducted from an upscale pub in a Mercedes Benz. A6 – son of a sitting AIMIM MLA – was arrested for sexually molesting her in this moving car.
One of the juvenile accused is only a month short of completing 18 years of age. The police are also probing the unlicensed motor driving by the underage boys.
BJP insists on CBI probe
Even as the Hyderabad police claimed to have arrested all the accused and collected strong evidence for the award of stringent punishment in a fast track court, the BJP is insisting on a CBI probe into the whole episode.
BJP national secretary in charge of Telangana Tarun Chugh alleged that the law and order situation had completely deteriorated under chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
“There is a virtual jungle raj in Telangana. Girl child in Telangana has no safety, security and the people here cannot expect justice,” Chugh said on Wednesday.
Chugh alleged “a TRS government conspiracy to shield the real culprits in the Jubilee Hills minor girl gang rape” and that the police “were deliberately diluting the case.”
The BJP leaders are questioning chief minister Rao's silence and are demanding action against the Waqf board chairman.
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay said that “the police tried to save the MLA’s son, but after the BJP revealed the evidence were forced to include his name in the case as the last accused.”
“Otherwise, the police would have closed the case,” Bandi said.
The T-BJP chief charged that the police acted as per the directions from the chief minister’s office to protect the rich and influential. “The TRS and AIMIM leaders have been looting the state. While MIM leaders are committing atrocities, the TRS leaders are indulging in murders,” Bandi said.