A 32-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped by eight men at her relative's shanty in Amboli on Monday night. The survivor along with her husband had gone to the area in the afternoon to hunt for an accommodation and later decided to put up at her relative's place. All the accused, aged between 19 and 27 years, have been arrested and are being interrogated.
“The incident occurred at a slum located in Shyam Nagar, Andheri (west) when the couple, residents of Powai, had gone there in search of an accommodation. A woman who was known to them was helping them. Since it got late in the night, the couple chose to stay at the woman's house. Eight people from the same area raped the woman,” said DCP Ashok Dudhe, Mumbai police spokesperson.
“The survivor’s husband had recently got a job in the area and in order to reduce the travel time, wanted to move to Amboli area. They contacted the survivor's aunt, who stays in a shanty in Shyam Nagar, to help them find a house,” said a police source.
According to the police, the accused may have watched the woman arriving at her aunt’s house on Monday afternoon and had targeted her. The aunt, who works in night shifts, left for work around 9 pm, and around 10.30 pm, the accused barged into the house and allegedly took turns to rape the woman. While five accused remained inside the house, three others thrashed and dragged her husband to a spot far away.
The police added that the woman’s ordeal went on for over two hours. “Around 1.30 am, the accused released the husband and fled the scene,” said an officer, adding that the woman and her husband approached the police around 2 am.
Sources in Amboli police revealed that the eight accused are being interrogated as to why they targeted the survivor and whether they knew her or her husband. Medical tests were also conducted on the survivor.
The accused have been identified as Nastain Jafarali Sheikh alias Babu (19), Imran Mohammed Sheikh (23, a driver), Mohammed Ghulam Hussain Khan (27), Rakesh Lakshman Khere (21), Zaheer Sharif Khan alias Jayu (23), Nagesh Dhangar alias Katori (19), Ezaj Ahmed Shaikh (23), all three working as RTO agents, and Pradip Ghagat (23). All accused, except Pradip Ghagat, have been remanded to police custody till November 4. They have been booked under sections 376 (d)(gang rape), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (hurt), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) and 120 (b) criminal conspiracy.
