Claims Say Kathua Gang-Rape Accused Was Taking Exam, CCTV Footage Proves Otherwise

An image has been doing rounds on social media, which is allegedly a picture of the attendance sheet where it is shown that one of the accused in the Kathua rape and murder case, Vishal Jangotra, was writing his B.Sc Part I exam on January 12. Vishal had said during interrogation that he was writing his exam at a centre in Khatauli, Muzaffarnagar during the time of the rape. Same was claimed by Jangrota’s parents.

However, as per a report by The Hindu, CCTV footages have revealed that Vishal did not appear for the exam and a proxy candidate might have taken the test on his behalf.

Gyan Prakash Shrivastav, registrar, Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) University, Meerut said that the CCTV footage and the digital video recording of the exam centre have shown that Vishal, along with three other students did not appear for the exam. According to the registrar, all the four students were pursuing B.Sc Agriculture at Aakanksha College, Meerapur and had submitted fake documents.

He said that when a special investigation team of Jammu and Kashmir came to collect information about the four students, their probe showed that their addresses were given as Rasulpur in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, although in reality three of them are from Kathua in Jammu and one is from Delhi. Shrivastav said, “The SIT sleuths took the CCTV footage of the exam centre at KK Jain College in Khatauli with them. Vishal and the other three students were not seen in the video recording conducted on the day of the examination. It might be a case of sending a proxy candidate to write the exam.”

According to the charge-sheet filed in the Kathua gang-rape case, Vishal, one of the accused, with help from his father, prime accused Sanji Ram in Kathua, a relative Kishore in Jammu, R.P. Singh, chairman, Akanksha College and some employees of CCS University, tried to manipulate records and create false evidence.

Vishal’s role in the Kathua gang rape case

The police charge sheet has stated that the juvenile accused who had abducted and sedated the girl before raping her had called his friend Vishal in Meerut asking him if he would also like to rape the little girl and “satisfy his lust”. Vishal had then allegedly reached Kathua the next morning on January 12 to violate the unconscious girl at the ‘Devsthan’ his father run.