Mumbai: Four Shivaba Sangathana activists allegedly attacked the three accused in the Kopardi rape and murder case Saturday noon in the premises of a local court in Ahmednagar. The attackers were angered over the “nice treatment” given by the police to the accused, sources said.
The rape accused were in the court premises for the hearing of their case when they were attacked with knives and sickles by the activists. None of the three accused was injured in the attack, as the police intervened at the right time.
The three accused, Jitendra Shinde, Santosh Bhaval and Nitin Bhailume, were to appear for their case’s hearing in an Ahmednagar court, when four men identified as Rajendra Patil, Baburao Walekar, Pramod Khane and Ganesh Khane attacked the three accused with knives. Police sources said the quartet is reportedly from Beed district in Marathwada region.
“The attackers were angered with the nice treatment given by the police to the accused,” said Shivaji Gaware, the investigating officer of the case, attached to Ahmednagar’s Karjat police station.
The police immediately intervened in the attack, and a constable was injured in the exercise. The police arrested the four attackers after chasing them and confiscated their weapons.
“The attack was made by a few activists and they have been arrested by the police. We will give tighter security to the accused, keeping in mind the attacks made on them,” Mr Gaware said.
Shinde, Bhaval and Bhailume are accused of raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in Ahmednagar in July 2016. The incident took place on the evening of July 13, when the girl was returning from meeting her grandfather. The teenage victim’s mutilated body was found later.
The local crime branch officials arrested the accused in the following days after the locals of Ahmednagar took to the streets, demanding the arrests of the accused. They were booked under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The next hearing in the case will be on April 17 where the three accused in the rape and murder case will be escorted to the court premises with tight police security.
