Lone woman gang-raped by rickshaw driver, friend

Pune: Two men were arrested by the police on Friday for allegedly gang-raping a 23-year-old woman who was travelling alone in an auto-rickshaw in Pune. A third accused in the case is on the run. The arrested accused included the auto driver and his friend who raped the woman Wednesday night. Finding the woman alone, the auto driver called in his friend and forcibly took her to two spots where they raped her.

Milind Gaikwad, police sub-inspector, Kondhawa, said, “The 23-year- old woman lodged a FIR at Kondhawa police station claiming she was gang-raped. The complainant stays with her brothers in the Yerawada area of Pune after she separated from her husband.

On December 13, she had a quarrel with her brothers and in a fit of rage, left the house and sat in an auto-rickshaw headed toward the NIBM-Kondhawa area. She asked the auto driver to stop in front of a society at NIBM road. She asked a security guard at one of the residential societies for a mobile, as she wanted to call her husband. But the security guard refused to help.”

PSI Gaikwad said, “Later, she caught another auto-rickshaw, telling the driver that she wanted to go to Kothrud. The auto driver saw she was alone and called his friend who came within a few minutes. The two took the woman to a room at Sidharthanagar in Kondhawa and raped her throughout the night. Later, the auto driver forced the victim to drink alcohol and took her to a room at Handewadi in Yerawada and raped her again. He then asked a friend of his to drop her back and the friend dropped her at M.G. Road, Camp.”

She was walking on the road in a helpless condition when a policeman happened to ask her what happened. With the help of the police, she lodged a FIR at Kondhawa police station.

The police has arrested Satish Mane and Balaji Shinde under Indian Penal Code section 376 for rape, 376 G for gang-rape, 354 for molestation, 506 for threatening, and 363 for kidnapping.