The spine chilling details of Esther Anuhya’s torture and death are slowly coming to light with the Mumbai police taking into custody five suspects including three cab drivers and two brothel organisers.
Sources associated with the probe told Express Anuhya was abducted early on January 5 while she was on her way to her hostel from the railway station. “She was confined to a room in Mumbai’s notorious red light area Kamatipura for five days. She was beaten up and repeatedly raped,” the sources said, adding she was killed on January 9. 23-year-old Anuhya, a native of Machilipatnam and an employee of TCS, went missing on Jan 5 after alighting from the Visakhapatnam-LTT Express train in Mumbai. Investigators found that one of the suspects had made a call from one of Anuhya’s two mobiles from Kamatipura where women are trafficked from all over the country.
Mumbai police sources said Anuhya got down from the train at the LokmanyaTilak Terminus around 4.45 a.m. on January 5. Minutes later, she hired a cab to Andheri West where she used to reside. However, the driver took her in the wrong direction and after a few minutes drive, three more persons got into the cab. The sources said Anuhya had tried to call her parents or friends after suspecting the intentions of the cabbie and his pals.
But the accused snatched her mobile phones and switched them off. They took her to a house near Kamatipura where she was confined for five days. “On January 8th night, the accused thrashed her brutally after she resisted their attempts to sexually assault her. She fell unconscious and remained so the next day too. That was when the accused took her to an isolated place near Kanjurmarg and murdered her by pouring chemicals and setting her on fire,” the sources said.
“The last call from Anuhya’s mobile phone was made by an unknown person on January 9. Who made the call and who received it will be known during investigation,” said a senior police officer from Mumbai.
It is learnt that the police traced the receiver’s mobile number but it was switched off. Then, they located the address of the person who had obtained the mobile number. But it turned out to be fake. The person had obtained the mobile number by submitting fake documents. The Mumbai police also recovered a blanket, slippers and other materials from a house in Kamatipura. Kanjurmarg senior inspector VishwanathTungare mailed their photos to Anuhya’s father Prasad.
However, Prasad replied to the Mumbai police that the blanket was not his daughter’s.
Some roommates of the victim appeared before the police to identify the slippers and other belongings.
“I received a mail and phone call from Kanjurmarg senior police inspector NishikantVishwanathTungare, who stated that they found some belongings.
“But he refused to tell us from where the belongings were recovered,” Prasad told Express adding that his family members suspect the Mumbai police are trying to erase evidence.
“They collected wrong details from LTT staff. Anuhya got down at LTT at 4.45 am but the Mumbai police recorded statements from LTT staff that the train had arrived around 5.30 am on January 5,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Bhandup Division, Mumbai, SunilMadhukarShejwal told Express they had intensified the investigation and formed a few special teams to nab the accused.
