The 17-year-old survivor’s ability to recall critical details about her three alleged attackers – their nicknames, clothes, physical appearance and the route they took while leaving the area – helped Delhi Police identify and arrest all three within hours of the gang rape, officers aware of the investigation said on Tuesday.
The girl alleged that she was taken to secluded locations inside the park, where the accused threatened her with a pistol and knife and raped her while assaulting her friend. Police teams began searching the park and surrounding colonies by around 9pm. Police subsequently arrested all three accused.
She had gone to the park with a male friend, also 17, after visiting the temple when three men allegedly intercepted them around 7.15pm-7.30pm, police said. The accused were identified as Asif, 25, and brothers Mukesh Singh, 24, and Hemant Singh, 31.
Police said the men posed as police personnel, threatened the teenagers and separated the girl from her friend. A senior police officer, citing her complaint, said the girl told investigators that the men had threatened to call the police and inform her parents after claiming they were policemen. Investigators also checked local police records and matched the description of Asif with a photograph taken by a beat constable in the area in recent weeks, officers said. Asif was traced and apprehended from Amar Colony after a brief exchange of fire, police said. During interrogation, he allegedly told investigators that he had been with two other men from Sri Niwaspuri. Police said the three had known each other for around three months and frequently met in the park. The accused were arrested in the same clothes described by the survivor in her statement, investigators said. Asif was apprehended from Amar Colony after a brief exchange of fire, while Mukesh and Hemant were arrested from Sri Niwaspuri, officers said.
The crime took place on Monday evening when the girl was allegedly gang-raped inside Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Temple on her 17th birthday.
