Park Street gang-rape case: Prime accused Kader Khan arrested in Greater Noida

The victim, Suzette Jordan, passed away in March 2015.

Park Street gang-rape case: Prime accused Kader Khan arrested in Greater Noida Representational image

New Delhi: Kader Khan, the main accused in the Park Street gang-rape case where an Anglo-Indian woman was the victim in 2012, was finally arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida on Thursday night.

The Anglo-Indian woman -- then 40 years old, a divorcee and mother of two -- was beaten up and gang-raped by five men at gunpoint inside a moving car and then thrown off the vehicle near a city intersection on the night of February 05, 2012.

Besides Khan, an accomplice named Ali was also arrested by a special team of Kolkata Police in a joint operation with Delhi Police from Alpha one in Greater Noida last night.

"We had certain intelligence about their movement and had kept them under surveillance for the last six months. Working on a tip-off, we were able to arrest them around 4 am on Friday," a senior police official told IANS.

They would be presented before a court in Kolkata later on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off that Khan, absconding since the incident, sleuths of Kolkata Police started tracking his mobile calls, an officer said.

Soon after he was located somewhere near New Delhi, sleuths started zeroing on him.

On Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's instruction, a special team was formed to nab Khan.

 

"We had information that Khan has returned to the country and was having regular interaction with his family members in Kolkata over phone. We started tracking their numbers and found that calls from a particular number from Ghaziabad were made... We started tracking it and found that it was Kader's," the officer said, adding that Khan had rented the apartment in Ghaziabad under a pseudo name.

It was learnt that Khan was hiding in Bangladesh and after running out of cash he returned to Delhi through Nepal.

 

After keeping him under surveillance for almost a week, a joint team of Delhi Police and Kolkata Police team raided his hideout last night and arrested him, the IPS officer said.

A few days later when the victim filed her complaint, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had termed the incident as "sajano ghatana" (fabricated case), triggering a controversy.

Damayanti Sen, the then Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner (crime) had pursued the case and identified the five accused. She was later shunted out from her post.

Three of the five accused were arrested and two including prime accused Kader Khan absconded.

Nine months after the victim died of meningitis in March 2015, the city sessions court had convicted the accused persons - Ruman Khan, Naser Khan and Sumit Bajaj - and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. 

The victim, Suzette Jordan, passed away in March 2015.

(With PTI inputs)