Inching ahead, the crime branch has arrested another of the four absconding accused in the brutal gang-rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist.
Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she was saddened and pained over the incident, which has sparked outrage all over India.
The accused, Vijay Jadhav, was arrested from a video parlour in the wee hours from from the congested Madanpura area of south central Mumbai, an official of the NM Joshi Marg Police, which is spearheading the probe, said.
Under pressure, police had arrested one of the suspects, Chand Babu Sattat Shaikh alias Mohammed Abdul (19), within hours of the incident. “We have arrested one of the accused who has confessed to the crime. He has named the others… We are hopeful of nabbing them soon,” Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh had told the media on Friday.
Both the accused will be produced before before the Bhoiwada Magistrate Court on Saturday afternoon.
The photojournalist is in stable condition, while police were hunting for the three remaining accused – Qasim Bengali, Saleem and Ashfaq.
The sexual assault in a desolate textile mill compound on Thursday evening, mirroring the horrific gang-rape of December in Delhi, rocked both houses of Parliament on Friday.
The victim, working for an English magazine, underwent a surgery at the Jaslok Hospital yesterday. Doctors said she was now recuperating but still in shock.
Based on the description of the criminals provided by the victim and her male colleague, police had released sketches of the four on the run and set up 20 teams to nab them.
The incident took place around 6.30 pm when the victim and her colleague were on a photo assignment and went to the sprawling ruins of Shakti Mills Compound near the Mahalaxmi railway station.
–PTI