Shilphata: Three men including a priest gangrape and murder a woman; case to be run in a fast-track court

A speedy investigation will be conducted into the case of gang rape and murder of a woman who took shelter in the temple in Shilpata. In order to punish the culprits in this case, a charge sheet will be filed as soon as possible and the case will be tried in the fast track court. Also, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed Thane, Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner and Principal Secretary of Home Department to appoint senior lawyer Ujwal Nikam as Special Public Prosecutor in this case.

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Case registered under section 498A

This is a very serious incident and FIRs have been lodged in this regard in Thane and Navi Mumbai Police. The incident took place in Shilphata in Thane and a case has been registered at the police station there. Along with this, a case has been registered under Section 498A in Navi Mumbai Police on the complaint of the woman's parents.

After the charge sheet is filed in this case, the case will be tried in a fast track court to punish the culprits who gang-raped and murdered the woman. The Chief Minister said that action will be taken in this case, so that the culprits in this case get strict punishment.

Woman was given spiked drink, raped and then murdered

Santoshkumar Ramyagna Mishra (45) who was looking after the temple in the absence of the main priest, got his farmer friend Rajkumar Rampher Pandey (54) to stay with him in the temple. Meanwhile, the third accused identified as Shamsundar Pyarchand Sharma (62), who is a retired staff from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) befriended the duo. He was a regular visitor at the temple.

On July 6, at around 6:00 am, the deceased lady left her home in Belapur after a spat with her husband and mother in law. As per the FPJ report, she used to visit a temple in Belapur but that fateful day she decided to visit the Ghol temple in Kalyan. After reaching the temple the victim spent the whole day sitting in the temple which was being observed by the three men. 

Police said the accused ‘Sadhu’ Mishra came up with the idea of spiking her tea and raping her. The trio took turns to rape her brutally and caused serious injuries. They raped the woman in the store room of the temple. When she gained consciousness after a few hours and realised what happened to her, she started screaming following which the accused banged her head and strangled her, killing her instantly. 

As per the CCTV footage, the deceased lady had gone to the temple at around 10:30 am on July 6 but the evening footage of the same day was missing. According to the police, the murder happened on July 7 early morning after which they kept the body in the store room for a day and on July 8, they dumped it near the valley of the hillock. A visitor noticed the body on July 9 and informed the police.