The probe will be headed by Seema Pahuja, a deputy superintendent-level officer from the CBI’s Ghaziabad unit, who had earlier handled the controversial rape case of a minor girl in Himachal Pradesh. She will accompany a team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory to the Bulgarhi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district and seek custody from the court of the four accused to interrogate them.
The UP Police that had filed the initial case had never sought custody of the four accused from the court, and had sent them to jail on the day of their arrest. While the main accused, Sandeep, was arrested on September 20, six days after the alleged rape, the other three were arrested during September 23-27. Also, no woman police officer was made in-charge of the initial probe as mandated in rape cases, because the UP Police did not treat it as a rape case until a week after the incident.
The mother of the victim may be asked by the CBI to give a statement before a magistrate as she is a key witness, those in the know have told ET. The girl’s dying statement on September 22, alleging gang rape by the four accused, is expected to be the CBI’s mainstay evidence as police did not ask for the immediate medical examination of the victim within 72 hours as mandated under law. The CBI will examine the autopsy report from Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, and the medical examination reports from the state forensic science laboratory and an Aligarh hospital where the victim was initially admitted before she was shifted to Delhi.
Officials said chances of finding forensic evidence at the spot were remote four weeks after the incident and more than 10 days after the body was cremated.