Mumbai: Two more persons, including a woman, were arrested on Friday in the case of alleged rape and extortion of a model, taking the number of those held to eight, three of them policemen.
All the accused were sent by a local court to police custody. As the police force grappled with another shameful episode where its own personnel have been accused of involvement in heinous crime, a top officer vowed not to allow any accused to go scot-free. He said process have been initiated to suspend the erring policemen – two of them junior level officers – who have emerged as the prime accused in this saga. All the eight accused were produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody till April 29.
Six of them, including the policemen, were held on Thursday.
On April 3, some of the accused stopped the vehicle of the 29-year-old victim and took her to a nearby police post. There, one of the policemen allegedly assaulted her sexually and also snatched around Rs 4.35 lakh cash from her, the police told the court during the remand application hearing. In the statement to the police, the victim, an MBA in hospitality from Australia, said she returned to India 2012 and came to Mumbai last year with the hope of making a film career. She alleged that one of the accused had taken her portfolio pictures offering that he would help her find a role in a movie.
She was taken to the police post on the day of the sexual assault and one of the persons present there told her to admit that she was a sex worker so that he could help her by presenting her as a victim of sex trade. Later, one of the policemen sexually assaulted her. She also alleged Rs 4.35 lakh was extorted from her. The prosecution said the custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary to find out if more persons are involved and also to recover the money taken from the model.
Defence lawyers told the court that their clients were being falsely implicated and they were going to seek action against the model under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act.
Those arrested were identified as Sunil Khatpe (34), Suresh Suryavanshi (36) – both Assistance Police Inspectors – and Yogesh Konde (36), a Constable. The others are Javed Ibrahim Sheikh (35), Ibrahim Bismillah Khan (42), Tanveer Hashmi (34), Sanjay Ramaronge (34) and Asha Malviya (24). Of these, Ibrahim Khan and the woman, Asha, were arrested on Friday. (PTI)
