Four more held in Dombivli rape case; phones sent for forensics

The 15-year-old Dombivli rape victim's statement indicates that the accused raped her on multiple occasions after giving her fruit juice mixed with sedatives. Police have learned that one occasion there were 15 men who assaulted her.

- Pradeep Gupta

Kalyan:

A team probing the case on Friday tracked down four more involved in the case. The total number of suspects apprehended is now 33. Two of them are minors, who were sent to the Bhiwandi remand home. The rest have been remanded in police custody till September 29.

Assistant commissioner Sonali Dhole, who is leading the investigation, said, “Four different teams are searching for the remaining accused. We are sure we will be able to nab them soon.”

Police have seized the mobile phones belonging to the arrested accused. They have said all the phones will be sent to the forensic team to retrieve data. The main accused, Vijay Fuke, had befriended the minor on a social networking platform. He raped her and made a video which was used to blackmail her and coerce her into sexual acts with his friends.

Many of the accused to whom Fuke had sent the video, have deleted it from their phones along with the social media app through which they were trying to contact the rape survivor.