Palghar: Five booked for abducting, raping woman

Mumbai: The Palghar police registered a case of gang rape after five persons, including a woman, kidnapped a newly married woman for two weeks and sexually assaulted her. The police said that the woman was targeted after holding her captive on February 6.

A person posing as policeman arrived at the couple’s residence at Nalasopara and told the woman that they have arrested her husband in connection with a case and that she was required to come to the police station. The woman was taken in an auto rickshaw to Malad.

The accused held her captive at a place in Malad for nine days where two of the accused gang raped her and later she was shifted to another location in Mira Road.

“The victim was allegedly locked in an under construction building till February 18 and was again sexually assaulted there. The incident came to light when she approached us after she was released,” said an officer of Palghar police station.

While preliminary inv-estigation stated that two persons raped her while three others including the woman abetted to the crime, the police are still ascertaining the sequ-ence of incidents.

The victim was released from captivity on February 18. She filed a complaint on February 23 and the five were booked on Sunday under relevant sections of the IPC for rape and criminal intimidation, the official said.

The police filed a case based on the victim’s statement and she was sent for medical examination, which confirmed the sexual assault, police said. The officials stated that they are probing several angles including personal enmity.

A case has been registered under charges of rape, criminal intimidation, forceful confinement as per the Indian Penal Code against the five accused. The police have formed several teams to track them down.