Mumbai gangrape: Crime Branch arrests 5th accused

The Crime Branch has arrested the fifth accused from New Delhi in the gangrape case of a 23-year-old photojournalist. He was the last accused in the case and will be brought to Mumbai. The fourth accused was also arrested on Sunday morning by Mumbai Crime Branch.

The first accused in the case was arrested on Friday and had reportedly confessed to his crime while he also identified the other four. The second accused was arrested from a South Mumbai video parlour late on Friday night and the third accused was arrested on Saturday.

The survivor's statement to the police reveals how they led the photojournalist into a trap before brutalising her. The photojournalist, who was allegedly gangraped by five men at Shakti Mill in Parel area of central Mumbai, said, "Rape is not the end of life. I want strictest punishment for all the accused and want to join duty as early as possible".

This is the message the young photojournalist has sent out from her hospital bed to people who feel outraged at her gangrape by five men at the abandoned Shakti Mills compound.

"Patient's condition has further improved, she is interacting with family members, we are monitoring her health," doctors said.

Meanwhile, the grandmother of one of the accused in the Mumbai gangrape case, said that her grandson was not present at the scene of the crime at the time of the incident and that he had run away. In fact, she showed CNN-IBN his tampered birth date card, claiming that he is a minor.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, the grandmother of one of the five accused had said she herself took her grandson to the police. "The police did not arrest my grandson. I took him to the police station and got him arrested."

Police sources had said beer bottles that were allegedly used by the perpetrators for threatening the survivor have been recovered. Sources had said the clothes of the first accused have also been recovered. Meanwhile, police sources had also said that two of the five accused have house breaking and dacoity charges registered against them.

Sources said three of the accused had mobile phones and the records are being analysed. The rape survivor's mother had called her twice before the incident but the accused forced her to say everything was alright, police sources said. They also said that after the incident, the male colleague called the boss and the girl's mother.

The police have said that all five accused are local residents and had accosted the 23-year-old photojournalist while she was taking some pictures of the mill. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Friday, Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh had said the accused told the woman and her male colleague that they were on railway property and photography was not allowed there.

The police had also released the sketches of all accused on Friday. The sketches were prepared on the basis of the details given by the photojournalist and her colleague. Over a dozen police team have fanned out across the city and a massive manhunt has been launched to arrest all the culprits. The survivor had also named two of the suspects, police said.

The 23-year-old photojournalist was allegedly gangraped by five men on Thursday evening at Shakti Mill in Parel area of Central Mumbai. The woman was accompanied by a male colleague, who was gagged and bound while she was raped.