MUMBAI: The Dadar police on Thursday night arrested five people, including a taxi driver, for allegedly gang-raping a 15-year-old girl at different times in May. The police are searching for the sixth accused.
The victim, who is a resident of Worli Koliwada, was sent to the Nagpada police hospital on Thursday for a check-up and the medical report is awaited. The five arrested accused, meanwhile, were produced before the Bhoiwada court on Friday and remanded in police custody until June 9.
Officers said the girl is a class X student in a Worli based Marathi school. The victim was known to at least four of the accused, who are aged between 18 and 20, since they live in the same neighbourhood in Worli.
Ashok Unde, senior inspector at Dadar police station added, "They had bought condoms for the act. The duo raped her taking turns and released her with the warning that she should not talk to anyone."
Others, however, did get to know about the assault. Three other accused, thereafter, used the threat of exposing the May 3 sexual assault to call the victim out and rape her, the police said.
On May 7, Mane and Kalokh's friend, Ashwin Murudkar, a 20-year-old employee of the railway's pantry department , threatened the teenager and took her to a deserted place near Worli garden . He then went on to rape her.
Less than three weeks later, Pawan Angre, an 18-year-old employed as a courier boy with a private company in Vile Parle, used the same ploy to sexually assault the teenager.
The following day, one Vicky from the neighbourhood took the girl in a taxi to a deserted area near Worli. He then asked the cabbie, 44-year-old Anand Uttam Landge, to leave and raped the victim. Landge however saw the act and, threatening to tell on them, demanded from Vicky that he be allowed to participate in the assault. "Though the girl kept protesting, Landge and Vicky gang-raped her in the taxi," said a police officer.
Scared after the late night assault, the victim did not return home. After a long search, her parents and relatives found her near Bhoiwada.
"At first she did not talk to anyone, though her mother and women from the neighbourhood tried to make her speak. She finally revealed how she was gangraped over a month and threatened," said a police officer.
The police say the girl's parents approached them on June 2 and lodged a complaint. The police have arrested Mane, Kalokh, Murudkar, Angre and Landge, though Vicky is still absconding . The six have been booked under section 376 (G) for gang rape and 506 (2) for criminal intimidation.
TALE OF HORROR
The victim is a 15-year-old girl who lives with her family in Worli Koliwada and studies in class X in a Worli-based Marathi school. Her father is employed as a peon in a private hospital, while her mother is a housewife. She has two siblings—a sister and a brother—both younger to her
THE ACCUSED
19 yrs old Mahesh Anandrao Mane is a neighbour of the victim, Mane befriended her recently in a tuition class. He studies in a central Mumbai school and his mother works as a house help. His father is dead
19 yrs old Hitesh Harish Kalokh is a third-year BSc student, he stays near Janata Colony in Worli Koliwada. Kalokh, whose father is a fisherman, ostensibly knew the victim for years
20 yr old Ashwin Murudkar works in the railways' pantry department along with his father and his mother is a housewife. Murudkar, too, is a neighbour of the victim. He met the victim several times in May
DASTARDLY ACTS
The victim told the police that Mahesh Mane and Hitesh Kalokh called her to Mane's house on the night of May 3 to help them cook some food. Once she was inside, they locked the door and sexually assaulted her The police say some others in the neighbourhood learnt about the act. And, on May 7, Ashwin Murudkar raped the 15-year-old in Worli area after threatening to expose the first assault On May 30, Pawan Angre raped the girl by using the same threat, police officials say The following day, one
18 yrs old Pawan Angre is employed as a courier boy with a private company in Vile Parle. His father works in a mill in Dadar (E)
Vicky whose age is not known is the only one absconding accused in the case. The police said they are seeking more details on him
SECTIONS INVOKED
376 (G) of Indian Penal Code – Gang rape 506 (2) of Indian Penal Code – Criminal intimidation
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