Kalyan sexual assault and murder: Locals want capital punishment for the accuse

Police keep watch in Kalyan

Miss you didi. The accused should be hanged to death', reads a huge hoarding put up at the main entrance of a bylane in Kalyan that leads to the houses of the 12-year-old victim who lived in a chawl and the accused who stayed in a building opposite her home. On the evening of December 23 (after 6 pm), as the victim's parents were frantically searching for their missing daughter until late in the night, the accused, Vishal Gawli, 28, had not only sexually abused the girl, but had already killed her by strangulation.

He also, allegedly, not only convinced the woman believed to be his third wife (also an accused in the case) to help him dispose of the body, but also lied to a neighbour before borrowing his autorickshaw to transport the body in a trolly bag. He passed through the lane where the victim lived a little after 9 pm and returned home two hours later, while her parents were still searching for her.

A banner seeking the death penalty for the accused. Pics/NIMESH DAVE

"No one in the vicinity had any doubts about Gawli. In fact, the girl's parents had named a relative of their neighbour, whom they suspected to have abducted their daughter, as he had a year ago on the same day (December 23, 2023), threatened to teach them a lesson after an altercation," recalled the investigating officer, Police Inspector Ganesh Nhayade of Kolsewadi police station, where the offence is registered. The case has been registered for kidnapping of the minor, murder, destruction of evidence, etc under numerous sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act.

The murder

On December 23, the victim had left her house a little after 4 pm to visit a shop nearby to buy some eatables with the money her father had given her. She stepped out of her house but never returned. Two hours later, her parents looked for her at every possible location, they kept moving in and out of their chawl, also passing through the building where the accused stayed, but still had no clue about her whereabouts, the police pointed out.

Vishal Gawli, the accused

"A little past 1.30 am on December 24, the parents visited the police station and registered an FIR for kidnapping of a minor and named a suspect. A police team visited the locality to carry out a preliminary probe, but could not make any headway," said the investigating officer.

Body discovered

While Kolsewadi police were clueless as to the whereabouts of the missing 12-year-old, around 10.30 am on December 24 a police wireless message flashed about the unidentified body of a girl - matching the description of the missing girl - being found within the jurisdiction of Padgha police station (under Thane rural police). The location was almost 15 km from the place where the victim lived.

"The police team rushed to the spot with the girl's parents, and they confirmed that the body was of their missing daughter. Subsequently, the Padgha police transferred the case to Kolsewadi police station, where additional charges were slapped on the unknown accused," explained DCP (Zone III) Atul Zende.

Autopsy reports awaited

The semi-nude body of the victim was sent to the J J hospital postmortem centre, where the forensic surgeon conducted a detailed autopsy on the deceased. All vital organs, slices from the viscera and material evidence from the deceased have been preserved for chemical analysis, blood grouping and DNA analysis, and sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina.. "The final postmortem report is awaited. However, the autopsy surgeon has given the provisional reason for death as ‘asphyxia due to compression of mouth and neck'," said the DCP.

Police bandobast

Amidst heavy police bandobast, the mortal remains of the victim were finally cremated. The local residents in the area expressed their anguish over the incident and called for protests to voice their concerns. The police have continued to maintain a presence in the area to prevent any untoward incident.

Arrest of accused

Acting on both human and technical investigation, the police managed to first nail Sakshi, 23, the wife of the accused. She initially gave evasive replies but eventually broke down and admitted to supporting her husband in disposing of the body. Gawli was picked up the next day (December 25) by a police team that had gathered technical leads on his whereabouts and tipped counterparts in Buldhana, from where he was arrested and handed over to Kolsewadi police. Gawli was produced before the special POCSO court in Kalyan and remanded to police custody till January 2, 2025.