A Mumbai court today extended the police custody of three accused in the Mumbai gang rape case. The accused, Shiraz Rehman Khan, Vijay Jadhav and Kasim Bengali have been remanded to custody till 5th September. The court today also rejected an application moved by Kasim Bengali claiming that he is a minor. Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Uday Padwad rejected his claim after observing that last year he was tried for a different case before a court in Girgaon, where he was treated as an adult.

Meanwhile, the fourth accused, was produced before a juvenile court and has been sent to a juvenile remand home.

The fifth accused, Salim Ansari, who was nabbed from Delhi, is already in police custody till 5th September.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Mumbai today, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy said they have strong evidence against to nail all the accused. He informed that forensic reports confirm that DNA samples found on the victim match with the DNA samples of all five accused. He also said that the Mumbai Police will not conduct ossification test on the juvenile accused as a birth certificate issued by the city’s civic authority and a school leaving certificate show that he was born in February 1997. Apart from the earlier charges of rape and criminal intimidation, the Mumbai Police have now added three more charges under Indian Penal Code sections 377 (Unnatural offence) , 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) against the accused.

A 23-year-old photojournalist was gang raped in Mumbai’s Shakti Mills compound on 22nd August while she was working on an assignment.