Chargesheet filed in Dalhousie rape-murder

KOLKATA: Hare Street Police on Thursday submitted the chargesheet in the Dalhousie case in which a 12-year-old pavement dweller was kidnapped, raped and then murdered by two app-cab drivers. In the 150-page charge sheet, submitted 82 days after the “rarest of rare” incident, the cops named Shankar Sahu, 22, and Gudu Singh, 20, as the accused.
According to sources, police have cited around 60 people as witnesses, including several who had been sleeping on the Dalhousie pavement on the night of August 31 when the victim — who had come to visit her mother from Howrah’s Bagnan — was kidnapped in an Ola cab, gangraped and thrown into a canal off EM Bypass.Though Hare Street police continued to probe the case, the charge sheet was prepared with the help of the homicide section of the detective department.
The cops will now pray for in-custody trial of the accused. “We have enough evidence to get in-custody trial of the accused,” claimed an investigating officer. According to police, Guddu and Shankar had kidnapped, gang-raped and finally strangulated the victim before dumping the body at the Tiljala canal — all in a span of 35 minutes. The crime was a fallout of two criminal-minded “perverts” desperate to “enjoy life”, said a police source.
It had all started in the midnight when the main accused — Guddu — entered the Munshigunj brothel area along with his brother-in-law and another friend. Guddu had driven an Ola cab in the evening to ferry his companions to the spot. The three men drunk heavily for around an hour before his brother-in-law and his friend left for the night. It was then that Guddu called up Shankar — a fellow Ola cab driver — and asked him to join the “party.”
The duo started partying for the second time and after another hour, Guddu tried to solicit the services of a call girl he was eyeing for some time. However, there was an argument between Guddu and some men there and both of them were asked to leave the area.They then picked up the victim, raped and murdered her.
The main chargesheet has the details of the crime but they were not shared. Police said that there might be a supplementary chargesheet, if required.