The Hindu : New Delhi News : Safdarjung hospital rape case accused in police custody

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 17, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Safdarjung hospital rape case accused in police custody

Staff Reporter

Victim identifies accused; man "confesses" having criminally assaulted the woman

NETTED: Sanjay, the alleged accused in the Safdarjung Hospital rape case at the Patiala House Courts in New Delhi on Friday. — Photo: S. Subramanium

NEW DELHI: Forty-eight hours after the rape of a 30-year-old woman in Safdarjung Hospital rocked the Capital, the police on Friday claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of an alleged history-sheeter of a South Delhi police station.

Several police teams under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police-I (South-West) Shalini Singh had been verifying the movement of male employees of Safdarjung Hospital after the incident came to light this past Wednesday. They had also got a portrait of the suspect made at the National Crime Records Bureau with the help of the description provided by the victim on Thursday.

Around 1 a.m. on Friday, the police noticed a man loitering around near the gate of Safdarjung Hospital under suspicious circumstances. He was taken into custody after a knife was recovered from his possession. The police said he had also tried to molest a woman near the gate. They added that his description and profile matched with that of the portrait prepared by them.

Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, the victim was not feeling well and was brought to Safdarjung Hospital for medical treatment. When Sanjay alias Sonu was being taken for medical examination in the early hours of Friday, the victim happened to see him and identified him as the culprit.

According to the police, Sanjay, listed as a "bad character" at the Hauz Khas police station, was a chronic alcoholic and would often loiter in and around Safdarjung Hospital in an inebriated state. He would also dupe patients or their attendants of their money by posing as an employee of the hospital and promising to get their jobs done.

During interrogation, Sanjay allegedly confessed to having criminally assaulted the woman. He told the police that he was in an inebriated state.

Earlier, the police had received a call on Wednesday around 12-30 p.m., that a woman, who had come to Safdarjung Hospital along with her pregnant sister-in-law, was robbed of her gold chain at knifepoint by an unidentified man on the fifth floor of Safdarjung Hospital. It was at the police station that the victim told the police that the robber had also criminally assaulted her at knife-point in the toilet on the fifth floor.

After criminally assaulting her, Sanjay had bolted the door from outside and fled. She raised an alarm that alerted some passers-by who opened the door. The woman then narrated the incident to her sister-in-law but they decided not to report the matter to the police fearing humiliation. So, they informed the police only about robbery.

The police are now seeking Sanjay's remand to recover the robbed jewellery. Further investigations in the case are on.

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