The Kharghar police arrested a 31-year-old man from Chembur who had allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman inside a stationary bus. While the incident took place around two months ago, the accused was arrested on Wednesday. He was absconding after committing the crime.
The arrested man, Abhishek Kharat, 31, was the driver of the bus where he committed the crime along with the other accused, Tejash Dewlekar, a 19-year-old college student. Dewlekar was arrested within four days of the crime from Navi Mumbai.
According to the police, both the accused and the survivor stayed in the same building. The accused had offered the victim a spiked drink when a pre-wedding celebration (Haldi) was going on in the building on the night of February, 3.
Shridhar Jagtap, an assistant inspector from Kharghar police station said, “During the celebration, the survivor felt thirsty and went to have some water. The accused called her aside and suggested that she could have some soft-drink if she wanted to drink. Since both the accused stayed in the same building, the victim did not suspect them and had the soft drink offered by them.”
“Kharat’s bus was parked at a secluded place nearby. After some time, when the survivor started feeling uneasy, they took her out and offered some more spiked drinks. At one point, when she was almost unconscious, they took her inside the bus and then took her turns to rape her,” said API Jagtap.
After committing the crime, they dumped her on the road, snatched her mobile phone, and fled the spot. The survivor regained her consciousness after some time, and with the help of a few pedestrians, she reached the police station and registered a complaint.
Jagtap said, “Kharat had been hiding at different places in Maharashtra and Gujarat for the past two months and had come to Chembur around three days ago. Acting on a tip-off, we arrested him with the help of Chembur police.”
Kharat was produced before the judicial court on Wednesday and has been remanded to police custody till April, 5.
