Man acquitted in Chhawla gang rape was looking for soft target to kill: Cops
Police are also exploring legal opinion as to whether the January 26 murder can be brought to the fore during the review petition filed against the apex court’s acquittal order.
One of the men acquitted by the Supreme Court in the 2012 Chhawla gang rape and murder case, along with his accomplice, killed an auto-rickshaw driver on January 26 because they were looking for a “soft target”, police officers aware of the matter said on Saturday.
Police are also exploring legal opinion as to whether the January 26 murder can be brought to the fore during the review petition filed against the apex court’s acquittal order.
Vinod, 35, along with Ravi and Rahul, was convicted and sentenced to death by a Delhi court in February 2014 — a verdict that was upheld by the Delhi high court in August the same year, for allegedly gang-raping and murdering a woman that the three had abducted from near her house in Chhawla camp in 2012. The Supreme Court, however, acquitted them on November 7, 2022, pointing to gaping holes in the police investigation.
Last week, Vinod and his accomplice Pawan (29) were arrested for the murder of auto driver Anar Singh (44) on the road outside Netaji Subhash Apartments in Dwarka Sector-13.
A senior officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “The interrogation of Vinod and Pawan and our investigation into the case revealed that on the night of January 25, the two reached Chanakyapuri on a motorcycle… and started looking for a soft target, any auto driver who agreed to take them to their desired destination in Dwarka. They boarded Anar Singh’s auto and stabbed him in his neck.”
Investigators are in the process of collecting CCTV footage of the routes that they took to reach Chanakyapuri before committing the murder. Police have already collected several footages showing the two fleeing the auto after stabbing Singh, another officer said, asking not to be named.
“Some more evidence, including the clothes the two wore during the crime, have also been collected. These will help us file a watertight charge sheet against the two,” the second officer said.
Meanwhile, with regards to the review petition against the acquittal of Vinod, Ravi and Rahul in the Chhawla gang rape and murder case, senior police officers said they have sought legal opinion on whether Vinod being accused of murder can be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court.
The officers said that they wish to include the latest charge against Vinod to prove that he is a “habitual and hardcore criminal” who did not mend his ways despite spending 10 years in jail.
“As the matter is in the Supreme Court, where unlike the lower court, investigating officers (IOs) cannot update judges about developments against accused, we have to go by the rulebook. We are taking legal opinion on bringing into the court’s notice Vinod’s latest crime through official channels… It may lead the court to consider positively on our review petition,” said the first officer quoted above.
The Dwarka district police are also trying to find out if Vinod was involved in other criminal activities after he was released from jail in November last year. They are also looking into whether Ravi and Rahul, the other two alleged accused in the Chhawla case, were in touch with Vinod after their release from jail.