Kathua rape: Vishal signs do not match

Srinagar, May 20: The signature of Vishal Jangotra, an accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in January, does not match the one which he claimed to have signed in an exam attendance sheet in Meerut to claim he was not at the crime scene, according to a report of forensic experts.

The report by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), detailing this conclusion, has been submitted to the crime branch of Jammu and Kashmir police, according to officials in the probe team.

The officials said the report has stated that Vishal had not put the signature on the attendance sheet and it was done by someone else. Vishal, one of the eight accused arrested in the case for raping and murdering the girl from the minority nomadic community, had claimed that he was in Meerut and had never visited Kathua when the crime was committed. He had also told the investigators that he had signed the attendance sheet before the examination on January 15.

The ‘Questioner of Examined Documents’

Vishal had not put the signature on the attendance sheet and it was done by someone else. — CRIME BRANCH OFFICIALS, Quoting report by the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory

(QED), who is an expert on examination of handwriting samples, opined that the signatures on the attendance sheet did not match with that of Vishal, son of Sanji Ram, the alleged mastermind of the murder, the officials said.

The crime branch has already expanded its investigations into the gang rape and murder case to nail the people who had signed an attendance register on behalf of Vishal at the Meerut college.

The crime branch, meanwhile, issued notices to Sachin, Neeraj and Sahil, the three friends of Vishal, for appearing before it for questioning on Monday after the Supreme court gave a go ahead on May 17 for their further examination. PTI