Victim's family alleges frame-up by cops

MUMBAI: The family of a three-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered at Cuffe Parade on Thursday morning, has accused the police of exerting pressure on them to confess to the crime. The Cuffe Parade police received flak as they have been unable to crack the serial murders involving two other victims in five months.
The family said the police seemed to be in a hurry to pin the blame on a family member to show they have cracked the case.Many misleading statements have been issued by senior officers, indicating that a massive cover-up was in place, they said.
The police had told the media on Thursday that the father, Rajeev Sharma, was a prime suspect as he had threatened his former wife a few days ago and was absconding after the crime. Sharma, who had gone to the police station on Friday evening, told TOI, "I was at my village in Uttar Pradesh since Tuesday evening. They are trying to frame me even though I wasn't here at the time of the murder. How can they say I am absconding even though I spoke to them on Thursday morning and told them where I was. I got on to the first train to Mumbai and reached CST at 8pm on Friday."
The family claimed that the police had illegally detained the three-year-old girl's grandfather, James Fernandes, and her stepfather, Ashok Jadhav, for over 36 hours.
Fernandes, who was released at about 7pm on Friday, alleged that he was beaten up and deprived of food and water by the police."
The victim's mother, Suzzane, said that the police were trying to frame a family member so that they don't have to answer questions about the murder. "Rajeev loved his daughter dearly and he is a good man. I refuse to believe he would harm her. We are sure the murder is linked to the past two murders," she said.
Assistant commissioner of police Iqbal Shaikh said Sharma was still a prime suspect and they were trying to trace him.
"We are looking at the case with seriousness and should make progress soon," he told TOI on Friday.