Belagavi: The Supreme Court has issued summons to all the five accused in the sensational gangrape and murder of Sheetal Chougale based on a private complaint filed by her parents. The accused were earlier acquitted by the high court.
The 2007 incident had evoked massive public outrage with many women’s groups had organised protests demanding stringent punishment against all the six accused.
The main accused, Pravin Shintre, was later killed in an encounter.
Earlier in 2012, the 5th Additional Sessions Court in Belagavi had sentenced Sheetal’s husband Ravindra Chougale, Ranjit Shinde, Ramesh Mense, Vijayanand Shinde and Reena Tahsildar to life imprisonment.
After the verdict, Sheetal’s mother Kanchan Desai had moved High Court seeking more stringent punishment to the accused, but to her dismay the court acquitted all of them.
The Supreme Court in a letter to Kanchan Desai has sought the new addresses of some of the accused, who had relocated soon after their acquittal by the High Court. The new addresses are supposed to be furnished to the court within two weeks.
Sheetal's parents have urged the Kakti and Camp police station officials in Belagavi to help them find the new addresses of the accused. Only Vijayanand Shinde has received the summons, as he had not relocated.
According to sources, noted advocates Dr Aniket Ujwal Nikam and Ashish Satpute will be pleading in favour of Sheetal's parents in the Supreme Court.
On August 11, 2007, Sheetal's husband had left her at Ravindra Chougale's house in Belagavi and told her to wait until he returned. He had offered supari to the five accused to kill Sheetal. Later, Pravin Shintre and the other accused gangraped Sheetal and killed her. They carried the body to Khanapur forest and dumped it there the same night.
On August 13, the body was recovered from the forest, which led to the arrest of five. A few days after the incident, Shintre was caught by the police and killed in an encounter.
