Mira-Bhayandar: On the eve of International Women’s Day, the district and sessions court, Thane awarded life sentence to two people including a cab driver and his friend who robbed and raped a 32-year-old woman after offering her a share ride in Kashimira in 2017.
The incident dates back to 19, December, 2017 when the woman headed towards Thane mistook a private vehicle for a share-a-ride car (due to the sticker of an aggregator company pasted on the windshield) and boarded it from the Kashimira junction during the peak evening hours.
Another person who was seated in the car pretended to be a co-passenger, but in fact was a friend of the driver who instead of taking her to Thane took a U-turn on the Ghodbunder Road and drove the vehicle towards Vasai.
The driver parked the car at an isolated place on the highway and raped the woman before forcibly taking her to a lodge in Vajreshwari where he continued with the sexual assault. His friend meanwhile robbed her cash and gold ornaments.
The woman raised an alarm alerting the manager who immediately called the police control room. However, the duo managed to escape from the lodge in the car. An offence under sections 376 (rape), 392 (robbery) and 363 (kidnap) of the IPC was registered at the Kashimira police station.
A few days later, the car driver identified as- Suresh Pandurang Gosavi (32) and Umesh alias Rakesh Jhala (31)- both residents of Dahisar were arrested by the police for their involvement in the heinous crime.
A team led by investigating officer-Vaibhav Shingare under the guidance of senior police inspector- Rajendra Kamble filed a water-tight charge-sheet supported by crucial evidence.
Finding the duo guilty of the crime, Judge Vasudha L. Bhosale sentenced them to 14 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for kidnap and robbery and life imprisonment for committing rape while imposing a fine of Rs 50,000. In case of default in payment, the convicts will have to suffer simple imprisonment for six more months. Advocates- Rajendra Patil and Varsha Chandane were the government prosecutors in the case.
