Diplomat rape case: Cops fail to retrieve data from DVR

The hard disk of the digital video recorder (DVR) connected to around six CCTV cameras covering the entry, exit and several crucial spots outside the Saudi diplomat’s apartment turned out to be corrupt, police said on Friday.

The hard disk was sent to the state’s only Forensic Science Laboratory in Madhubani, where the Haryana Police Academy is located, said a senior Gurgaon Police official. Police had taken the DVR into its custody when they rescued the two Nepali girls and handed it over to a special team, working on retrieving data crucial to the case.

The team, however, failed to do so despite putting efforts for several hours, as it was corrupt, the official said. The DVR was connected to around six functional CCTV cameras which covered the entry, exit and other crucial spots outside the diplomat’s apartment.

The police was to prepare a report after monitoring the CCTV footage, share it with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), if the ministry had asked for it, the official added.

Meanwhile, two days after submitting its report to the MEA in connection with the alleged gang rape of two Nepali women in the apartment of a Saudi diplomat in Gurgaon, the police had to post a series of clarifications countering “allegations” and “attribution of unverified facts” by several Twitter handles.

Gurgaon Police chief Navdeep Singh Virk, who went on leave for five days amid an ongoing probe into the alleged rape of two Nepali women by a Saudi diplomat and his friends, rejoined duty on the third day due to the importance of the case.

Virk clarified that he was not sent on leave by the state due to the diplomat rape case as reported by a section of the media, adding that his five-day leave (from Sep 9-13) had been sanctioned on September 3. 

“Even though the casual leave was sanctioned, I was unable to proceed for the same as the sensitivity and importance of this rape case was far greater than going on leave, and it required my personal supervision, which was duly given,” he said.