HYDERABAD: Abdul Rauf, Assistant Revenue Inspector of Farooqnagar mandal in Rangareddy district, who was a panch witness to the seizure of the material object in the rape and murder case of the veterinarian at Shadnagar in 2019, deposed before the three-member commission formed by the Supreme Court to probe the death of the four accused in the case in an encounter.
Rauf in his statement recorded before the Judicial Magistrate at Jadcherla, said the four accused stated in their confession that they had hatched a plan to rape her. Accordingly, they deflated her vehicle tyre and raped her. During the examination on Friday, he verified the confession statements of the accused and informed the commission that “the above statement is not found (in the confession statements). Similar words are not there but as per their plan, they raped her.”
When asked how he had learnt that “the accused had stated that they had hatched a plan and raped her (veterinarian)”, Rauf said, Mohd Arif (one of the four accused) revealed the above facts in their presence and their statements were also read over to them before he signed on them. “But I did not realise at that time that the above statement is missing in the confession.”
Rauf had stated that at the spot, “Mohd Arif scooped soil and threw it in the eyes of a police party.” When asked if he had stated the same in his statement before the magistrate, he said, “I had stated before this to the magistrate madam, but it was not recorded. I had pointed this out to the magistrate but she admonished me. I signed out of fear as the magistrate had sternly asked me to sign.”
He added that in his statement to J Surender Reddy, Additional DCP Rachakonda, the investigation officer in the ‘encounter’, after the encounter also he stated that the accused hurled soil in the eyes of the police party, but “they did not record it.” He also stated that he had stated the same in his statement before the NHRC.”
‘Soil flung by Arif hit 16’
Rauf added, after reaching the fifth embankment, when CI Narsimha Reddy bent down to check the area pointed by Arif, for the articles of the victim which the accused had hidden there, Arif threw mud in the CI’s eyes, snatched his weapon and ran. Arif threw soil with both hands at the police party and the panch witnesses only once and the soil fell in the eyes of all the 16 persons at the spot, who were accompanying the accused and then the accused beat the police party.
“While I was wiping my eyes, I heard the shouts of police personnel. One man was standing on the fifth embankment and hitting the police with a stick,” he said. When asked how he could see while wiping his eyes, though he was wiping, he could see with one eye, Rauf added.Rauf stated that the accused threw stones at the police party, but the commission pointed to him that they could not see stones or soil in the photo.