Nirbhaya team to lend expertise to fellow officers
We were shocked and angered at what had happened. But we maintained our objectivity & channelised our anger into the probe, said Mr Singh.
New Delhi: The Delhi police team, which probed the horrific December 16, 2012, gangrape case, will be training their counterparts about the fundamentals of framing chargesheets and collection of evidences, including DNA profiling of the accused in complex rape cases.
The Supreme Court has recently upheld the death penalty awarded to four convicts in the sensational rape of the 23-year-old paramedic student inside a moving bus in South Delhi by a gang of six persons. She succumbed to her injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
The court had appreciated the role of the Delhi police in collecting unimpeachable scientific evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt in the court.
The team, comprising 41 officers, was felicitated by Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik at the police headquarters on Monday. “Not only did the officers crack it in a record time of 18 hours, they followed it up with collection of scientific evidence, systematic and painstaking work that led to a conviction in the case,” Mr Patnaik said.
The then additional deputy commissioner of police (South), PS Kushwaha, said that they were “racing against time.” At every stage of the court proceedings, there were special investigative teams who briefed the counsels appearing on behalf of the victim.
Rajender Singh, who was then an inspector and a key investigator in the case, said that they will be imparting training to their fellow officers in drafting chargesheets.
Such was the brutality that had been meted out to the victim, that even the officers were shocked.
“We were shocked and angered at what had happened. But we maintained our objectivity and channelised our anger into the probe,” said Mr Singh.
Brutality was used as evidence in the case with doctors deposing as prosecution witnesses and listing out the reasons for her death, said the officer.
Mr Singh also said that the bus was traced from a total of 381 white buses on the basis of CCTV footage procured from a spot in Mahipalpur where the accused had dumped the victims.