New Delhi, March 18: The CBI probe in the Bilkis Bano mass rape-cum-murder case has thrown up revelations that suggest the Gujarat government machinery’s complicity at almost every level to help the accused.

After the sexual assault, Bilkis had stumbled through Srikotar forest in Dahod district to reach Limkheda police station on March 4, 2002, and register her complaint.

But head constable Som Singh is said to have refused, warning her not to file a complaint. When she insisted, he jotted down the complaint on a piece of paper, sources said, but allegedly omitted the names of rapists she mentioned in her statement. Bilkis, who cannot read or write, put her thumb impression on the written complaint. The CBI is likely to question Singh over the alleged omission, the sources said.

The case was later transferred to Randhikpur police post. Head constable Narpat Singh, who investigated the case, and sub-inspector Sayeed have since been arrested on the charge of tampering with evidence.

Gujarat police are also alleged to have “planted” two witnesses during the inquest.

On record, the police showed Somabhai Nanbhai Chauhan, Ramsing Naikbhai Baria, Ramtikben Mangalbhai Baria and Abdul Sattar Ganchi as “panchnama” witnesses. A panchnama is the record of inquest proceedings.

During questioning, however, Somabhai and Ramsing told bureau sleuths that no witness called Ramtikben or Abdul Sattar was present at that time. They further said they did not see the so-called witness duo sign the panchnama while they were there, thus raising suspicion over the role of the police.

Gujarat police also allegedly did not identify the bodies to mention their names in the inquest record, except for Bilkis’ mother Halima Bibi who was among the 14 killed. Bilkis’ teen brothers Irfan and Aslam and sister Munni, too, were killed.

The sub-divisional magistrate and the executive magistrate concerned, the sources alleged, visited the area from where the bodies were recovered but left without signing the inquest report.

CBI officials alleged that the husband-wife duo of physicians Arun Kumar and Sangeeta Prasad, working for a government primary health centre, had conducted the autopsy at the spot from where the bodies were found though the health centre was at hand. The bureau has questioned the doctor-couple to find if they were influenced to do this.

After the autopsy, the bodies were buried at the very spot -- near a river in Chapparwad village — though these should, in the normal course, have been kept for 72 hours or handed over to relatives, sources said.

The autopsy report, sources said, is silent on details of physical injuries inflicted on victims. Vaginal swabs and blood samples were not collected either, which indicated the administration’s complicity, sources alleged.

The CBI has sought the opinion of forensic experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences to establish the loopholes in the autopsy report. A team from AIIMS and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory dug up the grave at Chapparwad village where the bodies were dumped. The bureau is now awaiting its report.