Cops to conduct Bodev Ghat gang rape suspect’s test identification parade in Yerawada jail

Pune: A city court on Tuesday sent Undri labourer Chandrakumar Raivprasad Kanaujia (20), held in the Oct 3 Bopdev Ghat gang rape case, to magisterial custody for 14 days following a police plea to facilitate his test identification parade in Yereawada jail.
Prosecutor Amrapali Kasture recommended the suspect's magisterial custody on behalf of the police to facilitate his test identification (TI) parade in the jail and informed the court that the police reserved the right to secure his custodial remand at a later stage when required.Kanaujia was later sent to the Yerawada jail. The investigating officer will seek appointment of an executive magistrate to conduct the mandatory TI parade.
The rape survivor, from a city in Gujarat and pursuing studies in Pune, and her friend (22), a chartered accountancy student from north Maharashtra, had gone to Bopdev Ghat around 11pm on Oct 3. An hour later, three men approached them near the "Table Point" on the ghat. They assaulted the woman's friend before raping her.
The city police made their first breakthrough in the form of Kanaujia's arrest on Oct 11 and followed it up with the arrest of the main suspect, Shoaib alias Akthar Babu Shaikh, from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on Oct 14. Shaikh was expected to be brought to the city by road on Tuesday night. He will be produced before the court on Wednesday.
Crime branch (unit V) inspector Yuvraj Hande and his team produced Kanaujia in the court of judicial magistrate first class A A Kulkarni in Wanowrie with his face covered amid tight security following the end of his initial custodial remand.
Hande later told reporters, "We recovered a stick used to attack the survivor and her friend. The suspect led the investigators to the crime scene to explain the crime sequence. We recovered Kanaujia's clothes worn on the day of the incident and conducted his medical examination at a govt hospital. We collected his DNA samples, including blood, hair and nails, and sent them to the state forensic science laboratory for expert opinion. We have stored video footage of the crime scene, statements of witnesses and panchanama on two pen drives."
Regarding the third suspect, deputy commissioner of police (crime) Nikhil Pingale said the accused switched off his cellphone and was not found at his residence in Nagpur. Police teams are working on certain clues to arrest him.