Witness identifies Kurla rape accused

MUMBAI: A sessions court on Thursday recorded the statements of a witness who was one of the last persons to see the 9-year-old girl from Nehru Nagar, Kurla, who was allegedly kidnapped, raped and murdered by 19-year-old Javed Sheikh in 2010.
The witness identified Sheikh in court and also identified the picture of the victim and the clothes worn by both Sheikh and the victim at the time of incident.
The court had earlier framed charges against Sheikh under section 302(murder), 363(kidnap) and 376 (rape) of the IPC. Sheikh had pleaded not guilty on all three counts.
On Thursday, the middle-aged woman, who works as a domestic help and an assistant in a kindergarten, told the court that on June 19, 2010 at 7 pm, she saw Sheikh taking the girl to the scene of the crime in Kurla. The accused and the victim were unknown to her. The witness lives in the vicinity of the crime.
A few days after the body of the victim was found on the abandoned mezzanine floor of a chawl, police officers investigating the crime started questioning people in the area.
"The witness recognized the picture of the accused and the victim and said she saw him taking the girl to the scene of the crime," public prosecutor Pradip Gharat said.
She was then taken to Thane for an identification parade where she recognized Javed Sheikh. After that she was taken to the Nehru Nagar police station and she identified the clothes of the victim and the accused.
The Nehru Nagar police filed a 325-page chargesheet against Shaikh and so far eight witnesses have been examined in court.
Of the three rape and murder cases of minors that rocked Kurla last year , Sheikh is an accused in one. A cable operator, Sheikh was arrested on July 1 after the body of the third victim was found in an abandoned mezzanine floor of a chawl on June 19, 2010.
The witness will be cross examined on Monday.