Three held for bid to kill rape victim’s mother

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) Delhi Police arrested three persons, including a graphic designer, here for shooting at a rape victim's mother with the intention to kill her, police said on Friday.

Those arrested are Faisal Hussain, 36, the key conspirator and resident of Shaheen Bagh, Wasim, 30, a resident of Jasola village, and Mohd Iqbal, 46, a resident of Okhla village, police said.

They were arrested by separate police teams following raids on Wednesday and Thursday nights at Batla House and nearby areas in Jamia Nagar.

"Wasim and Iqbal worked for Hussain, a graphic designer. Wasim and Iqbal admitted that they shot the rape victim's mother on the instruction of Hussain. They had no personal enmity with the rape victim's family," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Romil Banniya said.

However, interrogation of the accused gave an altogether new twist to the tale, which initially seemed to be one of bumping off the complainant.

According to the DCP, the main accused Sajid, a local builder, who had gang-raped the victim along with three others, had made some investments in real estate with the help of one Bunty, also a local builder and broker.

Hussain also had some stake in the deal struck by Sajid and Bunty. But later, Hussain developed some differences with Sajid over the deal.

Taking advantage of the circumstances, Hussain hired Wasim and Iqbal to get the rape victim's mother eliminated, so as to implicate Sajid in the murder case. This would have solved his own problems with Sajid, DCP Banniya said.

Hussain also told interrogators that he hatched the plan after he came to know that Sajid was involved in a rape case and that the rape victim's mother had filed a complaint of life threat against him a couple of weeks ago.

Wasim and Iqbal on December 23 opened fired at the woman when she was on her way to a hospital, along with her daughter (the rape victim), in Jamia Nagar area. The bullet pierced her back, and amid the chaos, the shooters managed to escape, police said.

Police later arrested Sajid from his hideout in Uttar Pradesh. During the interrogation, he confessed to have raped the victim but denied shooting at her mother.

He hinted that Hussain could be behind the attack as he would have benefited if he (Sajid) is sent to jail for a long period, the officer said.