The Mumbai police crime branch on Sunday arrested three more suspects involved in the rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist, putting an end to the massive hunt by police officials. The fifth accused Mohammad Saleem Ansari, who is believed to be the leader of the gang, was arrested from New Delhi, as per tv reports.
Ansari was arrested from the national capital by the Mumbai Crime Branch on Sunday morning.
Siraj Rehman alias Ashfaque, 23-year-old, was arrested on Saturday but Kasim Bangali, the fourth accused, was taken into custody in the early hours on Sunday.
Bangali reportedly assaulted the woman twice and is the oldest among the five accused whose sketches were released by the police on Friday.
The first accused, 19-year-old Chand Abdul Sattar Shaikh, was arrested on Friday. Shaikh admitted to committing the crime and identified the other four. Controversy ensued when his grandmother claimed he is a minor.
Information provided by Shaikh helped the police track down the second accused, 18-year-old Vijay Jadhav. He was arrested around 2.30 am on Saturday.
Both Shaikh and Jadhav have been remanded in custody till 30 August, reported PTI. Ashfaque will be produced in front of the magistrate on Sunday along with Bangali.
The gang-rape case was transferred to the Mumbai crime branch after massive protests cropped up across the country.
The rape survivor is still undergoing treatment at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital, "She is very brave and is coping with the reality. She has been eating all her meals and is co-operating in the treatment." CEO of the hospital, Dr Tarang Gianchandani, told Hindustan Times.
The girl was gang-raped on Thursday evening at an isolated mill in the Lower Parel area.
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The newly-elected Congress MP and famous Kannada actress, Ramya, won the Karnataka by-poll election on Saturday. When asked about the Mumbai gang-rape case she told ANI news, "I think we should have tougher anti-rape laws and I think there should be more security for women and I condemn any form of...rape, molestation anything that is towards children or women."
She further stressed on education playing an important role in such cases and promised the people that she would work towards building stringent laws against such incidents. On winning the Mandya seat, 30-year-old Divya Spandana aka Ramya, became the youngest female MP in the current 15th Lok Sabha.
Also, senior Samjwadi leader Naresh Agarwal, an MP in Rajya Sabha, reacted to the rape case saying that women need to 'pay attention to their clothing' as their dressing is heavily influenced by western culture shown in films. His comments stirred huge criticism on social networking sites.
Bollywood actress and social activist Shabana Azmi condemned the gang-rape and told PTI, "With both Houses taking into consideration many of the amendments proposed by the Justice Verma committee, one would have hoped for an actual change."
Reacting strongly on the remarks made by MNS chief Raj Thackeray who blamed north Indian migrants for increasing rape cases, Azmi added, "I think this is a very unfortunate way of saying that migrants are responsible for such incidents. If you look at the statistics of Maharashtra, more than 30 per cent of the migration that takes place in Maharashtra happens from the interiors of the state."
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj demanded on sunday that rapists need to be given death penalty.
