A peculair style of arranging money, a pick-up truck that had far too many identification marks and a phone call made soon after the crime were key leads that helped the police crack what they now say was a "blind case".
When the police drew out records of all phone calls made from around the area minutes after the crime, and matched the caller details with those of criminals involved in such crimes before, they narrowed down on the accused gang, said a police officer.
After the rape, the accused gave the girl fifteen Rs 10 notes, asking her to take a cab home, the police said. The notes were folded vertically and tied with a rubberband. "Money is usually kept like this by three types of people - cab drivers for their toll payments, vegetable vendors and by people who drive pick-up vehicles and have to pay change to passengers," Deputy Commissioner of Police H G S Dhaliwal said.
The police claimed they used this lead to make a broad profile of the accused along with other key indicators, like the phone call that one of the five accused made soon after dumping the girl in Mongolpuri.
Also, the victim provided details of the vehicle that helped police distinguish it from the thousands of others that pass through Delhi.
The girl said the truck's rear portion was painted in green and had a flowery decoration as well as a small Hindi word written in English alphabets, starting with "M", on the left window.
"Using several permutations and combinations, we figured out the word would most likely be `Muskan'... In fact, we even intercepted a truck that had the word written on its conductor's window, but it didn't have the other identification marks," Dhaliwal said.
Later, the police matched all the details to find the vehicle used in the crime, a recovery that could come handy in putting up a strong case during the trial.
Fifteen special police teams consisting of 300 personnel were organised to analyse the possible routes the accused used before and after the crime.
The police also used CCTV footage obtained from an undisclosed building in Mongolpuri to good use. The footage showed two figures alighting from a vehicle. "We called in experts from the IIT to enhance the video quality and that helped us identify the vehicle's type and make," said a senior police officer.
But the victim's information that the accused were carrying a mattress with them that the police initially treated as a key lead later turned out to be insignificant, said an officer. "We checked several such commercial vehicles and found that occupants of one out of every five carried mattresses as they often slept in the vehicle," said the officer.
During the investigation, the police examined and verified at least 400 cab drivers employed by the victim's call centre. Her route was also checked for possible CCTV camera installations, said a police officer. "At least 338 vendors and tentwallahs around Mochi village, from where the woman was abducted, were also examined. We also checked 3,245 tempos for the one with the description provided by the victim.
Also, 105 gangrape cases in Delhi and nearby cities were scanned for clues," an officer said.
Source: Indian Express
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