Thane teen's rape-murder: Accused Gawli couple sent to a week's police custody (Ld)

Thane (Maharashtra), Dec 26 A Special POCSO Court in Kalyan town granted Vishal Gawli and his wife Sakshi Gawli to police custody for a week till January 2 in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl who was reported missing since Monday, officials said here on Thursday.

Thane district was rocked by a sensational sex crime perpetrated on the girl, who had stepped out of her home to buy some provisions but then went 'missing' till her body was found on December 25 (Wednesday).

Coming nearly five months after the Badlapur sexual assault on two nursery class girls in August, this is the second case that has sparked outrage with people demanding the death penalty for the alleged perpetrators -- Vishal Gawli, 35, and his wife Sakshi Gawli, 25.

Vishal Gawli is accused of kidnapping the girl from near her home, forcibly taking her in an autorickshaw to his house, assaulting, raping, killing and then dumping her body near a cemetery in the neighbouring Bhiwandi town, nearly 8 km away.

As the girl failed to return home for several hours, the family had lodged a missing complaint and a probe had started on Monday night, with the needle of suspicion pointing at the Gawli couple after the girl's body was found.

The Thane Police formed six teams to hunt him down, but Vishal Gawli had already fled to Shegaon in Buldhana district, where his in-laws reside.

There, he was spotted in a crowded restaurant through CCTV footage buying liquor, and the Shegaon police caught up with him in a local hair-cutting salon where he had gone for a clean shave, ostensibly to conceal his identity.

This morning (December 26), the Kalyan Police which registered the case, took custody of Vishal Gawli from Shegaon police while his wife Sakshi, who is said to be a party to the heinous crime, was nabbed from outside her house in Kalyan, late on Tuesday.

During police questioning, Sakshi revealed that her husband Vishal had committed the crime and kept the girl's body at their home till she returned around 7 p.m. on Monday.

Later, Vishal asked a friend to lend him his autorickshaw and along with Sakshi went to the Bapgaon area in Bhiwandi where they dumped the girl's body in a desolate area near a cemetery before decamping from there.

After taking in custody by Buldhana Police, Vishal Gawli was handed over to the Kolsewadi police station in Kalyan town (Thane) on Thursday and he was produced before a Kalyan Magistrate Court which remanded the couple to police custody till January 2.

The police prosecutor said that they wanted to probe the circumstances leading to the crime, how he kidnapped the victim, took her in the autorickshaw, the killing, his escape and involvement of any others besides his wife, and other angles in the case.

Initial probe revealed that Vishal Gawli was a history-sheeter in sex crimes, facing three molestation cases involving two women and a minor girl, plus two assault cases.

Arrested in a POCSO case lodged in August 2023, he was released on bail and had been married thrice, with Sakshi being his third wife.

As the matter assumed political colours, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to the Thane Superintendent of Police and directed that no efforts should be spared to ensure the death penalty for the accused, and the case should be transferred to a fast-track court.

Ruling ally Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde -- in whose Lok Sabha constituency the tragedy occurred -- met the victim's family and assured that the government would ensure that the accused is tried and hanged.

The incident attracted huge flak from the opposition parties, including Shiv Sena -UBT's Sanjay Raut, who said that Thane -- the native district of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde -- has become a hotbed of gruesome crimes against women and young girls.

Earlier on Thursday, several relatives of the victim and other women carried out a silent protest outside the police station, seeking the death penalty and refusing to take the girl's body till the accused was hanged.

Source: IANS