The first secretary at the Saudi embassy may have invoked diplomatic immunity to escape the charge of having repeatedly raped wo Nepalese women in his lat in Gurgaon, but there were others -his “friends“ -who also raped the two women and CCTV footage at he apartment building is now being scanned to identi y them.
Police hope to not only ind the other perpetrators of he crime, but also try and piece together the nature of he criminal ring that brought these women from Nepal and virtually sold hem to the Saudi diplomat to be used as sex slaves.
However, police appear to have been cramped by the fact that a senior diplomat of a “friendly“ country is involved. Unless it gets a clear signal from the MEA, its pursuit of the other rapists might lose steam.
The second round of medical reports makes for disturbing reading. “As they had continuously undergone unnatural sex, they had de veloped severe infections.The younger one had developed vaginal, anal and pelvic infections,“ said one of the doctors at Civil Hospital, requesting anonymity . She also had brutal “nail marks and bruises near her private parts,“ another doctor said.
The police had been on the back foot since Tuesday, saying they were awaiting instructions from MEA. But on Thursday it finally got CCTV footage and diary entries at Caitriona Apartments, where the diplomat lived in his 6,750-sq-ft fifthfloor flat. This can give police an idea about who were the diplomat's regular visitors.Their questioning could provide leads to the larger criminal ring.
While commissioner of police Navdeep Singh Virk was not very forthcoming, sources in the police department said it was essential to secure the CCTV footage to ensure no one could tamper with it. A senior cop said, “We are still waiting for the MEA's go-ahead for the probe but the footage was taken as it is major evidence for the investigators as well as the victims.“
The Indian government, on its part, called in Saudi ambassador Saud Al Sati on Thursday to discuss options and ask for the embassy's cooperation in investigations into the rape allegations against its diplomat, as both countries struggle to find a solution to a problem that involves a third country , Nepal, as the two rape survivors are from there. The two left for Nepal on Thursday morning.
In a press statement issued by police, Virk said the second medical examination of the two Nepalese victims “further amplify upon the findings of the first medical report“. This time, it was done by a team of doctors to lend more weight to the medical evidence.
Virk sent this report to MEA on Thursday, along with other facts that have come to light so far. “We are awaiting further instructions from MEA in the matter who now have to guide and assist us to carry out this investigation further. The finer details of the investigation cannot be revealed at this stage as the matter is sensitive and may affect the relations between two nations,“ he said.
Saudi ambassador Saud Al Sati was called in on Thursday by the Centre to discuss options and ask for the embassy's cooperation in investiga ions into rape allegations against one of its diplomats as both countries struggled to find a solution to a problem that also involves Nepal.
The two rape survivors, rescued rom the diplomat's flat in Gurgaon, are Nepali citizens. Vikas Swarup, spokesman for the ministry of external affairs, weeted, “MEA chief of protocol (Jaideep Mazumdar) called in Saudi Amb oday , conveyed request of Haryana Police for coopn of embassy in the case of 2 Nepali citizens.“
The Saudi embassy has two options.If they persist with their assertion of innocence of the diplomat, they could allow him to be questioned by police and help the investigation without actually losing his immunity . They could also insist on diplomatic immunity to brazen it out. But they cannot have it both ways.
That the diplomat in question has immunity from prosecution or lawsuits is indisputable, so it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will allow him to be exposed to a foreign criminal justice system. The best course of action for Riyadh would be to quietly withdraw the diplomat before the case assumes proportions large enough to impact ties.
The diplomat has to go, one way or another. If the Saudis don't defuse the situation by taking their diplomat home, the Indian government would find itself compelled to declare him persona non grata and expel him. New Delhi will also not violate the Vienna Con vention because that would mean putting Indian diplomats at risk in different parts of the world.
`Heard screams, but didn't know what was going on'
Gurgaon: Ambience Caitriona, the seven-star housing society in Gurgaon where the Saudi Arabian diplomat accused of raping two Nepalese women lived, has become the unreachable nerve centre of the probe.
The apartment complex has been turned into a fortress and even residents are being made to go through strict scrutiny every time they enter or leave the premises. A resident who lives in the same tower told TOI, “On Monday night, when the rescue operation was carried out, we heard screams but didn't know what exactly was going on.“
A source in the Caitriona management said around 30 flats have been leased out to diplomatic staff of the Saudi Arabian embassy. TNN
