Mumbai serial rapes: 1,000 DNA tests, 2,500 statements, no headway

With cops making no headway in the rape and murder cases of three minor girls from Cuffe Parade and Colaba despite having conducted 1,014 DNA tests and recording statements of more than 2,500 persons, police officers have now been asked to keep their recorded entries aside and probe the cases all over again. Senior officers said fresh ideas and a fresh look at the cases may help the police nab the culprit.

The team formed to investigate the cases includes officers from various police stations in Zone 1. The police had gone through the list of history-sheeters and recorded statements several persons from the Ambedkar Nagar and Machchimar Nagar areas.

The victims — Jagruti Patel, Karishma Chavan and Angel Sharma — all resided in Cuffe Parade. While Karishma and Angel resided at Ambedkar Nagar, Jagruti was a resident of Machchhimar Nagar. Jagruti was kidnapped on October 20 last year and found dead on November 13, Karishma was kidnapped on January 17 this year and found murdered on January 18, while Angel was kidnapped in the early hours of April 19 and found dead the same morning. All victims were around four years old.

“These are very sensitive and important cases, and the accused still remains at large. We are now planning to re-investigate the cases from a fresh perspective. We will begin investigating each case from scratch and won’t use investigative details that we have already collected so that anything that we may have overlooked earlier can be incorporated into our investigations now,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Ravindra Shisve.

Shisve said the police would re-investigate the role of every person in the case, including the 1,014 persons whose DNA samples were taken. “We will have to rework our strategy. We want to nab the accused as soon as we can,” said Shisve.

Shisve said the police have increased vigil in the areas. “Our team rescued a minor girl who was kidnapped from the Bombay Hospital area recently. We are doing our best to ensure that the murders do not take place again,” he said.