Diplomat rape case: Nepalese women to be approached after MEA responds, says police

New Delhi: Gurgaon Police is awaiting the MEA's response to its report before approaching the two Nepalese women, who were allegedly raped by a Saudi diplomat and others, for identifying the suspects in the CCTV grab of the apartment where they were confined.

Police on Sunday said that they need permission from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to approach the two victims who returned to Nepal three days ago.

However, police will send their proposal to MEA only after the latter responds to the "detailed report" sent earlier by it in connection with the case.

"The Ministry's response is expected to include what action is to be taken next," said a senior police officer.

Meanwhile, the MEA said that it has not received any response from the Saudi Embassy on its demand to cooperate in the investigation.

Saudi Arabian Ambassador Saud Mohammed Alsati was called to the MEA on Thursday and told that the accused diplomat should give a statement to Gurgaon police probing the case. However, the embassy has not given its response, sources said.

The Saudi envoy was called a day after MEA had received the report about the case from Gurgaon Police including the second medical report confirming rape and sodomy.

Gurgaon police said they are now waiting for directions from the MEA on how to proceed in the high-profile case.

Gurgaon Police yesterday managed to extract CCTV grab from a corrupt hard disk in a digital video recorder (DVR) connected to several CCTV cameras covering crucial spots outside the diplomat's apartment.

Several persons are visible in the CCTV grabs and only the victims can identify whether any of them had allegedly sexually assaulted them, said the officer.

The DVR was sent to the state's only Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) min Madhubani, where experts managed to extract the CCTV grabs of last 18 days up to September 7 night.

Police had taken the DVR into its custody when they rescued the two Nepalese women and handed it over to a special team working on retrieving data crucial to the case.

The team had, however, failed to do so as the hard disk turned out to be corrupt. Later, the task was assigned to a private enterprise. When the private enterprise failed, the cops opted for the Madhubani FSL.

The two Nepalese women, who were rescued last week, have alleged that they were confined and raped by the diplomat and his "guests" repeatedly in a flat in Gurgaon on the outskirts of the national capital after which the local police filed an FIR in the matter.