An Uttar Pradesh-based man, living in Vikhroli’s Parksite, was arrested by police for allegedly raping a woman under the pretext of marriage, shooting her videos without consent, and threatening to upload the videos on social networking sites.
The accused, Sudhir Tiwari, 29, also borrowed more than Rs8.5 lakh, her laptop, and fled back to UP where he got married to another woman.
Details of case
The matter first surfaced on January 12 when the victim and her family approached Ghatkopar police to register an offence against Tiwari. According to the victim, a resident of Vikhroli’s Parksite, she met Tiwari in their neighbourhood. Tiwari and the victim started to like each other in October 2022, and had plans on getting married, she said. They introduced each other to their families.
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During this period, till December 2023, Tiwari kept borrowing money from the victim, 27, a make-up artist, on the pretext of business or personal needs. Subsequently, Tiwari, during their intimate and personal moments, shot videos of the victim without her consent.
"The money was mostly transferred bank to bank by the victim – up to Rs8.5 lakh," said FK Mulani, PSI at Ghatkopar station. When the woman refused to provide money, Tiwari would threaten to make the videos public, he said.
Victim flees to UP
“He even took the victim’s laptop and left for UP in December, and then started avoiding her. She was under the impression that everything was okay and they were to be married next year [2024], but on December 11 she came across pictures of Tiwari married to some girl in his hometown in UP,” he said.
After the FIR, Tiwari disappeared but the police kept tracing his locations. On the day a team of police were about to leave Mumbai for UP, his mobile phone was turned on, and the location was Varanasi Airport. “We contacted the airport authorities – they informed us that he was coming to Mumbai,” Mulani said.
Accused arrested from Matunga
By the time the police reached the airport, Tiwari had already checked out. He was finally arrested from Matunga on January 19.
Tiwari has been charged with rape, criminal intimidation, criminal breach of trust, etc, of the Indian Penal Code. He is currently remanded to police custody till January 23.
