In an extremely rare instance, 31-year-old man accused of rape on the terrace of Sion Hospital was sent directly to judicial custody, without a medical examination or questioning. Is a cover-up brewing?
The accused, Deepak Kunchikurve (in white shirt) as seen in the CCTV footage from the hospital
There seems to be some serious police bungling in the case of the rape of a woman on the premises of Sion hospital on Sunday. Questions are being raised over why the 31-year-old man, identified as Deepak Kunchikurve was granted judicial custody. A highly-placed police source has also asked why there was no medical test conducted on him and why did he not have an advocate representing him in court on Sunday.
The source told mid-day, "There was no advocate on behalf of the accused at Bhoiwada court, and no medical test was conducted on him, yet he was sent to judicial custody. We don't know how. Cops have now applied before the magistrate for custody of him in order to get a medical test done on him and to interrogate him. When DCP (Zone 4) Dr Saurabh Tripathi was asked about this incident, he neither replied to messages nor answered repeated calls.
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'Brute strength'
Meanwhile, the frail woman who was raped at Sion hospital by the 31-year-old man, identified as Deepak Kunchikurve, told the police that he had held her down through brute strength and had threatened to kill her if she screamed during the assault. "As soon as I tried to scream for help, he said he would strangle me to death. I had no option but to keep quiet," the woman told the police.
The rape at Sion hospital happened despite the presence of Guards of the Maharashtra Security Force and BMC security man at all times. File pic
"When he left, I cried for a while and then gathered the courage to approach the security officials at the hospital and told them what had happened," the woman said in her statement to the police.
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Threatened with death
Kunchikurve, a resident of Dharavi, was arrested on May 11 after the woman registered a complaint against him. Kunchikurve lives with his family and his parents had been looking for a bride for him. They were going to visit a family on Monday, May 13.
Police said Kunchikurve had spotted the woman sitting outside the ward and figured out from her appearance that she was from out of Mumbai and was worried about something. "He asked only a couple of questions and I told him everything about my sister. I told him that I was very worried about the increasing medical bills," the woman said in her statement.
"When he told me that he was a hospital employee and would help me get a discount, I decided to go with him," she said. As soon as Kunchikurve took her upstairs, he grabbed her and because the woman was frail, she was unable to move. He then forced himself on her, a police source said. Soon after committing the crime, Kunchikurve ran out of the building, crossed the road and took a lift from a biker. The police, however, managed to track him till Dharavi.
"At a few spots we got clear images of him which we circulated on our informer network, which helped us a lot," a senior officer said. "When we received information about his residence, we immediately went and told his family about the crime as he was not at home. His family was shaken after hearing it," the officer added. "As soon as Kunchikurve reached home he was arrested."
Also Read: Mumbai: Heart patient at Sion Hospital goes to pee, loses his bed
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