34-year-old foreign national from Poland who came to India for a job in 2016 was allegedly raped and threatened for seven years by her employer — fitness enthusiast and businessman Manish Gandhi. A case under section 376 (rape) has been registered at Amboli police station on Wednesday, and the police are currently on a hunt to arrest the accused.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Amboli police station on Wednesday, March 8, the victim came to India from her country Poland in November 2016 and was offered a job by Manish Gandhi, the Chief Operating Officer at Asian Business Exhibitions and Conferences Ltd (ABECL). The initial three months were normal but after that Gandhi began sending the victim obscene images on her phone, later in 2017 the accused told her to attend an exhibition in Germany with him where he raped her in the hotel and silenced her saying that he has many contacts in Germany which he can use against her. The duo came back to India and since then from 2017 to 2022, continuously for several years the accused kept raping the victim at hotels during business events and at her apartment in Mumbai. The accused kept images and videos of the victim with him and kept threatening her with it if she decided to go to the police. The accused also had her documents which she would require to go back to her country.
Victim was mentally stressed
The accused is said to be highly influential with connections to many Bollywood celebrities, however, the victim who was in a phase of acute mental stress finally broke her silence and approached the Amboli police station with the help of her lawyer. She submitted all the images, videos, and chats of the accused as evidence for the case and registered an FIR. "My client states she has been a victim of these heinous crimes for the past 7 years. She was physically abused and raped incessantly throughout these years. My client further states that apart from sexual harassment, the accused (Manish Gandhi) is in possession of her nude photographs and videos which he used as a tool to blackmail her so as to continue this outrageous act of sexual abuse. Over the years my client has gone through severe anxiety, panic attack, sleeping issues, dreadful trauma and depression. It took more than a year for my client to come out of this entire traumatic and horrifying situation and gather enough courage to take this legal action against the accused," the victim's lawyer, Advocate Vivek Sharma told FPJ.
Accused booked under multiple sections
The accused has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including 376 (rape), 354 (molestation), and 509 (criminal intimidation). "We have registered the FIR and conducted the medical examination of the victim. We have all the necessary pieces of evidence and an arrest is underway," said the Investigating Officer of the case, police inspector, Vishal Patil, Amboli police.
