Padgha rape and murder: ‘Accused lured 12-year-old home as wife was away’

Neighbours of the Vishal Gawli demanded police protection and a death sentence for him. They also participated in rallies seeking stringent action

MUMBAI: Vishal Gawli, the 35-year-old Kalyan East resident arrested for allegedly kidnapping, raping and killing a 12-year-old girl on Monday, has confessed to having lured the girl to his house as his wife was away at her parent’s place in Buldhana, the police told the judicial magistrate’s court in Kalyan on Thursday. Residents of the locality are terrorised by the “local goon” – accused in at least eight cases – as he had molested several women in the past and they apprehend further threats from him and his family, the police noted.

Both Vishal Gawli and his wife Sakshi were produced in a court in Kalyan on Thursday. (Pramod Tambe/ ht photo)

In conversation with Hindustan Times, residents demanded police protection and a death sentence for Gawli and participated in rallies seeking stringent action. Some alleged off record that he had political backing and leaders of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena had bailed him out in the past; they also accused him of using the facade of mental illness to escape punishment.

Both Gawli and his wife Sakshi, arrested for abetment of murder, were remanded to police custody on Thursday, till January 2.

The 12-year-old girl, a resident of Kolsewadi, went missing when she went out to buy chips around 4.30pm on Monday. According to the police, Gawli kidnapped her from the spot, took her to his house, raped and killed her, and was stuffing her body into a bag when his wife returned from her parents’ place around 6pm.

Sakshi, 25, was stunned but helped her husband get rid of the body, said a police officer from Padgha police station in Bhiwandi, where the crime was registered.

“Around 8.30pm, the couple hailed an autorickshaw, went to Bapgaon, dumped the body in the bushes at near the cemetery and returned home to clean the blood stains,” the police officer said.

The girl’s seminude body, with injury marks in her abdomen, was found near the cemetery by Padgha police on Tuesday morning and subsequently identified by her parents. During investigation, police came across CCTV footage of Gawli in Kolsewadi around the same time when the girl had gone missing; they corroborated this with his mobile phone location history. On Wednesday, they raided his house in Kalyan East and nabbed his wife Sakshi, who told them that he had fled to Buldhana. A team was accordingly dispatched and the local police was intimated.

Gawli, who sported a thick beard earlier, had shaved it off in a bid to mislead the police, said an officer. “But we managed to nab him as soon as he left the salon.”

His arrest triggered protests and calls for strict punishment in Kalyan East. On Wednesday, residents participated in a silent march, carrying placards condemning the incident and demanding that politicians connected with the accused be made co-accused in the case. On Thursday, another march was organised from the girl’s house to the municipal corporation office, which drew participation from leaders across the political spectrum.

Meanwhile, women from Gawli’s locality told Hindustan Times that they apprehended further harm from him and his family.

“We are scared and have written to the police seeking protection,” said a woman on whose complaint Gawli was arrested in 2023 for attempting to rape her daughter while she was returning from school. He was released on bail later and subsequently externed from the district till August this year, when he returned home, said police.

“He should be hanged,” said the woman quoted earlier. Others alleged, requesting anonymity, that he used the bogey of mental illness whenever he was arrested and was close to some Shiv Sena leaders. The police too said Gawli had spoken of some mental illness certificate during questioning.

“We are probing the claim, and as well as his motive behind targeting the girl and if anyone else was involved in the crime,” said a police officer.

The 12-year-old girl’s father, who conducted her last rites on Thursday, said, “We want nothing but to see him suffer like my daughter suffered.”