Srinagar: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed its first chargesheet in the high-profile sex racket case charging nine people, including Deputy Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), K C Padhi.
The first chargesheet, comprising nearly 25 pages with annexures, was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, M Y Akhoon in a jam-packed court.
The CBI had to file the chargesheet before the expiry of the stipulated period of sixty days as the agency had made its first arrest on April 29.
Filing of the chargesheet within the mandatory period is essential, failing which those arrested in the case could get bail from the courts.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, after receiving the chargesheet, fixed July 7 as the date of taking cognizance in the case.
The case involves a 15-year-old girl Yasmeena, who in her statement before the CBI, claimed that 11 people had raped her while 20 others used to visit the residence of Sabeena, the alleged main kingpin in the case.
Besides Padhi, the CBI has named Deputy Superintendent of state police, Mohammed Ashraf Mir, Sabeena, Shabir Langoo, Shabir Kala, Mehrajuddin Malik and Masood Ahmed.
The chargesheet also names former Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi, who surrendered before the CBI on June 21, after he was declared as proclaimed offender.
The nine accused have been charged with Section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 376 (Rape) of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and Section 3, 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act (ITPA).
The Section 3 of ITPA seeks punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as brothel, Section 4 seeks punishment for living on the earning of prostitution and Section 5 seeks punishment for procuring girls for the sake of prostitution.
The chargesheet also has Section 67 of Information and Technology Act which seeks punishment for publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form.
The CBI has also informed the court that the MMS, the mobile phone and the VCD had been sent to Andhra Pradesh state forensic laboratory for thorough examination.
With Sethi's surrender, the CBI had indicated that the agency had completed its investigation into allegations made by the minor girl that she was allegedly raped by 11 men.
Nine of the 11 men named by the girl have appeared in identification parades during which she identified six of them, including General K S Padhi and Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ashraf Mir, they said.
The teenager had named another 20 people who used to visit the house of Sabeena. The identification parades involving these 20 people led to the identification of only three persons, the sources said.
The sex racket has caused a lot of uproar in the state, with political parties accusing each other about the involvement of their members in the scandal.
The sitting MLAs, Raman Mattoo and G A Mir, have been arrested by the CBI on the basis of statement of the main kingpin.
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