KOCHI: Statements of two key witnesses, CCTV camera footage and DNA test results turned crucial during the trial in the Aluva rape and murder case.
The defence counsel submitted before the court that Alam was arrested by mistake. The defence counsel took a stand that a person named Pathan Sheik, who was first taken into custody after the murder incident, was the real culprit.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, G Mohanraj, special prosecutor, said that the most crucial witnesses in the case were two persons named Sushmi and Murali. After luring the victim out of her house, Alam and the five-year-old girl boarded a KSRTC bus to Aluva on July 28 afternoon. “Sushmi, the key witness, was travelling on the same bus. She stated that she saw the victim and the accused on the bus.
The door of the bus was ajar and the victim’s footwear fell on the boarding deck. So she told Alam to remove the footwear. Sushmi believed that events indicated that even God did not want the victim to go with the accused. She rightly recalled the turn of events in the bus during the trial,” Mohanraj said.
Another crucial witness was Murali who worked at Aluva market. Murali went to the crime spot for dumping waste. He saw Alam there but did not see the victim. The footage from CCTV cameras came in handy for the police during the investigation.
“There was CCTV footage of the entire sequences from Choornikara to Aluva after the accused abducted the victim from her house and reached Aluva market. There was footage of the accused and victim boarding the bus, another footage of them alighting at Aluva, and videos of them roaming at Aluva market. There was footage in which the accused was seen washing his hands after murdering the victim near a water tap in Aluva market. The footage was checked with the help of a software named Amped to confirm that the persons seen in the videos were the accused and victim,” Mohanraj said.
DNA samples of the accused found under the nails of the victim was also a crucial piece of evidence. Similarly, fragments of the victim’s innerwear were found under the nail of the accused. The prosecution also presented the criminal antecedents of Alam, who was arrested for molesting a 10-year-old in New Delhi in 2018.
‘Sentence should be a lesson to all perpetrators’
Kochi: Residents of Aluva welcomed Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions Court’s verdict that found Ashafak Alam guilty of raping and murdering the five-year-old. Women activists who launched the campaign ‘Clean and Safe Aluva’ were present in the court to hear the verdict. “We welcome the court order finding the accused guilty of all offences charged against him. Now we hope that the accused will get nothing less than the death sentence,” Muneera Shabeer said.
Sunitha Noushad said the sentence should be a lesson to all perpetrators who commit heinous crimes. “Only a death sentence will ensure justice for the family of the victim. It should be the harshest sentence so that no one dares to do such a crime again,” she said. Muneera Beegum, another resident of Aluva, said, “After the incident, the family members of the victim were shifted to a better house. The local residents are supporting them financially and emotionally.”