‘Kathua mastermind had twin motives: Saving rapist son, scaring away nomads’

Jammu :  Sanji Ram, the mastermind of rape and murder in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua, has told investigators that after knowing that his son had also raped the abducted nomad girl, he decided that she should be murdered – to protect his son and scare away the nomads, police sources said on Friday.

Sources in the Crime Branch said Sanji Ram told investigators that he came to know about the victim having been raped after four days.

“After he came to know that his son Vishal was among those who had raped the victim, Sanji Ram decided that the victim could not be left alive,” a sources cited Sanji Ram as having told the investigators.

A juvenile accused, who is Sanji Ram’s nephew, according to the revelations made before the investigators, had raped the victim on January 10 – the same day she was abducted.

The juvenile told Sanji Ram that his son Vishal had also raped the victim and this revelation was enough for Sanji Ram to achieve his twin motive of scaring the nomad community out of the village and saving his son from being implicated in the crime.

Investigators said Sanji Ram asked one of his friends to bring a car so that the body could be disposed of.

After his friend refused to bring the car, Sanji Ram told his son and other accused to dump the body away from the ‘Devasthan’ where the victim was held hostage, repeatedly raped and finally murdered, the sources said.

The body of the victim was discovered on January 17 in a forest area.

Two policemen, a sub-inspector and a head constable, also charged as accused by the Crime Branch, had been paid Rs 4 lakh by Sanji Ram to destroy crucial evidence in the horrendous crime.

The revelations made by the mastermind also confirmed that the drug used to sedate the victim was a cannabis extract.