Three men involved in gangrape of minor girl nabbed, two others absconding

Vadodara: Three men were arrested on Monday in connection with the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl who was targeted in the newly developing Bhayli area on the night of Oct 4.
The police arrested Munna Abbas Banjara (27), Mumtaz alias Aftab Banjara (36), and Shahrukh Banjara (26), who were working as labourers doing painting and POP work in homes. Two others - Saif Ali Banjara and Ajmal Banjara - are absconding.
The Vadodara city and rural police scanned footage from nearly 1,000 CCTVs in the area and other roads and scrutinized lakhs of phone call details in two days to nab the perpetrators.The police had to work overtime to crack the case as the incident had triggered massive outrage among the citizens who are celebrating Navratri in the city, which is considered to be very safe for women.
"All three men are residents of the Tandalja area, and they do labour work of Plaster of Paris (POP) designs in homes. We got a few clues about their whereabouts from the location of the mobile phone that they looted from the minor girl. Our teams were also working on a few clues we got from the spot," said Narasimha Komar, city police commissioner.
Munna had migrated from Uttar Pradesh to Vadodara 10 years ago in search of work, and he was staying with his pregnant wife. Mumtaz, who is related to Munna, came to Vadodara 14 years ago and settled here. His wife had registered an offence of dowry and mental harassment against him at JP Road police station in 2015. Shahrukh also migrated to the city 14 years ago and was staying with his wife and two kids.
"One of the accused switched on the mobile phone that they had looted from the girl and received one call by mistake a day after the incident. We had been tracing the girl's phone, and that five-second call gave us a crucial clue about their location," Komar added.
The cops then launched a massive search in the concerned area. "We found some pieces of inexpensive sunglasses at the crime spot and inferred that the accused probably belonged to the lower-income group. The girl had also given a brief description of one of the men and the bike used by him," Komar told TOI.
The five accused had confronted the girl and her friend, who were hanging out at a secluded spot. While two of them left the spot, the remaining three passed lewd remarks at the girl. When her friend objected, one of the accused pinned him down while the other two allegedly took turns to rape the girl.
"We are yet to establish the identity of which two accused raped the girl. Once we get the medical report of the accused, we will be able to ascertain this," added Rohan Anand, superintendent of police, SP (rural), Vadodara.
After committing the crime, the five people didn't return home and instead kept changing their location for two days.
SIT formed for faster probe
Sandip Singh, IG (rural), said that a special investigation team (SIT) led by SP rural Rohan Anand will be formed for expeditious investigation and gathering evidence. "The investigations will be done by the deputy superintendent of police, and the SP will monitor the progress daily. We will file the chargesheet swiftly to ensure a faster trial," Singh said.
Eight police sub-inspectors and one inspector from the city crime branch were on the trail of the five. The rural police had picked about 60 men and questioned them about the incident.