Sensatiol twist to Dimapur lynching case

MOTIVE EXTORTION

Girl went willingly with Khan, galand government to Centre

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 11: In a sensatiol twist to the infamous Dimapur incident, galand government in a report to the Union Home ministry said that it has not yet been established that Syed Farid Khan, who was lynched by a mob, had raped the girl who levelled the charges against him.

The report, based on the confessiol statement of Khan while he was in police custody, said he had consensual sex with the 21-year old college girl.

“Both were known to each other. He had paid Rs 5,000 to the girl. But later, he was demanded Rs 2 lakh,” a source in the MHA quoted the report as saying. The report says Khan had told police that the girl went with him on her free will and had demanded more money from him after the sexual encounters, which he had refused.

Earlier, galand IGP Wabang Jamir had said that there was nothing conclusive in the medical reports to suggest rape. The government is awaiting the forensic test reports.

The girl had deposited Rs 5,000 before the police while lodging the FIR on February 24. A CCTV footage of the hotel, that was leaked in the social networking sites, had purportedly showed the girl coming out on the morning of February 24. Khan was seen following the girl, but he stopped at the counter for some time, ostensibly to clear the dues.

It was earlier reported that Khan and the girl, who hails from his wife’s village, had gone on an outing during the day before checking in at the hotel in the evening of February 23.

Speaking to the reporters, the girl had later claimed that she was forced to take alcohol.  “The amount (Rs 5,000) was forcibly given to me by the duo (Khan and another co-accused) for keeping shut,” she had said.

Since his arrest on February 24, Khan was in the Dimapur central jail. On March 5, a mob broke into the jail, dragged him out, stripped him ked, beat him up, pelted him with stones and dragged him towards the centre of Dimapur town, seven kilometres away. He died from his injuries on the way after which the mob displayed his body from a clock tower. The sources said that a local ga youth was allegedly involved in helping Khan in the incident and he too was arrested and sent to Dimapur central jail along with Khan. However, the mob did not touch the ga youth when Khan was dragged out of the prison on March 5 and lynched.

Meanwhile, in a late evening development, the galand government said the report has been misquoted. “Definitely we have submitted a report. It has been misquoted. Investigation is on. It is for the court to decide,” galand CM TR Zeliang said.