02 January,2015 09:08 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
Trio held for raping and killing boys told cops that one Siraj Khan was allegedly involved in a rape-and-murder at Shakti Mills; one of the convicts in the gangrape of photojournalist is also named Siraj Khan
Interrogation of the gang of men who allegedly raped and murdered young boys has thrown up a possibility that one of the criminals convicted for the 2013 Shakti Mills gang rape of a photojournalist could also be involved in these crimes.
One of the gang members told the police that when they were committing the crime in Shakti Mills in 2011, one Siraj Khan was also part of the group. File pic
mid-day had reported yesterday about the gang, three of whom were arrested by the V P Road police and four to five are suspected to be at large. The trio had been taken in for a robbery, but police later found out the gang had committed even graver crimes.
Also Read: Mumbai crime: Gang of 'psychos' rape boys before slaughtering them
mid-day's report on the gang on January 1
In July 2014, around eight men had gagged, sodomised and murdered a 16-year-old on Girgaum Chowpatty and thrown his body into the sea. This case was registered with the Marine Drive police station.
In September 2011, they had allegedly gang-raped a person named Vicky in the Shakti Mills compound at Mahalaxmi, before severing his head and leaving his body parts in the compound.
New information
Marine Drive police have been subjecting the accused Rajkumar Rapanna alias Kalianna (23), Sunil Kumar (30), and Vishal Padyan (30) to questioning in the Girgaum Chowpatty murder.
One of the gang members told the police that when they were committing the crime in Shakti Mills in 2011, one Siraj Khan was also part of the group. Police were startled with this revelation, since one of the men convicted for the gang rape of a photojournalist in Shakti Mills in 2013 is named Siraj Rehman Khan.
Police suspect the same man may be involved in this crime as well. An officer from Marine Drive police station said, "During investigation, the accused said they went to Shakti Mills to kill one person, identified as Rajesh Waghri, but instead they found Vicky there, and, therefore, raped and murdered him.
The accused said a person named Siraj was also involved in this crime. We are still to verify whether this Siraj is the same man who was involved in the 2013 gang rape of the photojournalist."
Since cops were busy with bandobast duty on New Year's Eve, they couldn't verify the identity of this Siraj. Khan, meanwhile, is in jail. A Sessions court ordered him to serve life imprisonment for the rest of his natural life last year.
