The Cinematic Hunt and Capture of Manipal Gang Rape Accused

The Cinematic Hunt and Capture of Manipal Gang Rape Accused

Mangalore Today News Network

Manipal: It was a true cinematic style operation on June 27, Thursday that led the police who were rattling their brains for the past one week, to arrest all the three accused in the  case of gang rape of a medical student of Manipal University.  Perhaps, never had the investigation into any case been as sensational as this one, with two of the accused attempting suicide even before the police could apprehend them, though it is a different matter that both were caught in the nick of time and hospitalized.

The arrested are Yogish Poojari (30), son of Shanthappa Poojari of Onthibettu near Hiriadka, Hariprasad Poojari (27), son of Narayana of 80 Badagubettu village near Parkala and Anand Badagubettu (28). Of them if Yogish had attempted suicide by consuming poison, Anand had tried to end his life by hanging from a tree. Both are admitted to KMC hospital and their condition is said to be stable. Latest reports state Anand’s condition has improved and  the police are recording his statement.

 

The trio had on June 20 night  kidnapped the Tiruvananthapuram based  22 year old medical student who was returning to her room after studies at the library at around 11.20 pm. Two of the arrested are autorickshaw drives. The first accused Yogish was even a car driver and is said to be an active Bhajrangdal activist. Hariprasad was an auto driver at Parkala and his auto was used in the crime.

Yogish a Bhajrangdal activist  and rowdysheeter: Yogish is said to be a rowdy and was rowdy sheeted in 2005. He was even involved in several cases of communal strifes and had had five cases against him.  Police sources say his name was heard in the case of death of hundreds of  chicken due to poisoning at a poultry farm near Atradi. More interestingly, Bhajrangdal had recently staged a protest demanding the arrest of the rapists and  Yogish’s brother who is a Bhajrangdal activist had taken part in the protest.

The cinematic arrest:  IGP Pratap Reddy  says the police had no evidence in this  is case but information that there was an auto and three persons in the case. When  we were looking into the  case history of some rowdy sheeter auto drivers, we had a suspicion on one person. We tracked his history and also  kept a close observation on his movements. He  was Yogish Poojari. He was outside the district after the incident took place. But when he returned, he realized that the police had suspected him  and had telephoned the IGP on June 27 at 10 am claiming responsibility for  the incident and also stating that he was committing suicide before the police could arrest him.

As his voice revealed he was ill, the police team swung into action and found him lying ill in a forest area close by his house at Athradi. He was immediately  shifted to the hospital. The IGP said Yogish admitted that all the three had raped her. The second accused Hariprasad was arrested near Parkala based on the revelations of Yogish.

They were on a jolly ride!

This at the outset does not seem a pre-planned act.  Neither the accused nor the student  knew each other and this has been proved by the statements of Yogish and the victim. All the three accused were friends and were on a jolly ride in a drunken stupor in Hariprasad’s auto on the night of June 20. As the auto passed  in front of Manipal University campus, they saw a lone female student  walking towards her room in a deserted area in front the Pharmacy College.  In a sudden reflux, the three  decided to kidnap her and took her to a deserted area near the Kodibettu Gram Panchayat Office and raped her.  It was a ‘Crime by Chance,’ the IGP said.

 

CCTV Footages

Police miss  the auto:  The second accused Hariprasad  was an autorickshaw driver at Parkala. The auto is in his elder brother’s name.  He was running one of the two autorickshaws in the name of his elder brother. In fact after the incident, Hariprasad had not gone underground but was working as usual. During police investigation, Hariprasad had brought his autorickshaw for examination on his own. Still we could not identify the auto, the IGP said and Hariprasad was clever enough to see that no suspicion arose. As we thought earlier,  the auto did not have a Ganesha idol but that of Radhakrishna idol. Moreover, it was not damaged as earlier thought. Therefore, we did not have any doubt then, the IGP said adding the department will ensure that the accused got maximum punishment.

Third accused Anand:  The police who had initially arrested the two accused, had launched a search for the third accused named Anand. One person named Anand was caught in Maharashtra but was let free on realizing he was innocent. Soon the police launched a search for the real accused who on realising that the police were after him ran into the woods and hanged himself to a tree. The police who gathered information from public rushed  to the spot and admitted him to hospital.

Yogish had dropped victim home:  Yet  another interesting aspect of this crime case is that the accused after committing the heinous act had dropped the girl  near her house in the same autorickshaw.  While the girl was kidnapped, Hariprasad was driving the autorickshaw, however when she was dropped home at around 2.45 am that night, it was Yogish who was driving the autorickshaw. There is a possibility that the accused might have threatened the girl against complaining to the police or that they decided to drop her home after she assured that she will not lodge a complant. In fact  two other accused Hariprasad and Anand had alighted the auto enroute while Yogish eventually dropped her.

 

Onthibettu-the crime spot: Ironically, they had chosen to commit the crime in a place  which was close by Yogish’s house at Onthibettu. They had chosen a land leveled for sites  adjacent to the Udupi-Karkala state highway.

He had lied when summoned to station:   As the police had begun investigation into the case they had a strong doubt that  someone from the locality was involved and had  listed out 80 rowdy sheeters and people with criminal background, Even Yogish had been summoned but he had failed to turn up saying he was in Mysore. When the police made a second call another day, he said he was in a different place further  adding to suspicion.

“Toughest case ever handled” IGP Western Range Pratap Reddy says this was one of the toughest case  he had to handle in his service of 21 years. “The accused could be arrested with the co-operation of the public as well as information gathered from them,” the IGP said.

Even Udupi SP Dr Boralingaiah said “ The public co-operation helped in trapping the accused. Even in the future, the evidences as well as the assistance of the public will be crucial in order to ensure punishment in such cases,” he said.

A mother’s anger: “ It does not matter even if he dies. We are suffering for no fault of ours,” said Janaki, the mother of one of the accused Yogish Poojari, with anger visible in her words.

Fast track courts: Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has assured  setting up of ten fast track courts in the state at the earliest to investigate such cases. He also said  additional police security would be provided to campuses.