In the ongoing case of the alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old girl in Gujarat, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation has disconnected power, electricity and drainage at the houses of the two suspects, The Indian Express reported. The cuts came over 72 hours after they served a notice to the suspects for “illegal construction”.
The victim was allegedly gangraped on the outskirts of Vadodara city on October 4. On October 7, five suspects were arrested. BJP corporators Nitin Donga and Umesh Brahmabhatt were at their residences when teams arrived to disconnect the connections.
The three-day notice by VMC had come to an end, post which the water supply, electricity and drainage connections were cut, as per the due process, Donga said.
“We did not need any police protection to disconnect these utilities… As there is a Supreme Court directive stating that civic bodies have to approach the court to even demolish the illegal structures, we will approach the District Collector, requesting that permission must be sought from the top court to allow the illegal homes of the accused to be pulled down,” he added.
The VMC’s notice had mentioned that the homes built by the accused lacked “building permission.” Meanwhile, Vadodara rural police took one of the five arrested individuals to a location in Vadodara city to reconstruct how they allegedly disposed of the victim’s phone and SIM card. According to police, this was done to prevent the victim from contacting the authorities or seeking help immediately after the incident. The mobile phone has yet to be recovered.