MUMBAI: A 20-year-old man and his friend have been arrested for allegedly raping a deaf and mute woman here, police said on Tuesday.
According to a police official, the accused, who were arrested on Monday, have been identified as Lakhan Kaale and his friend Sandip Kurhade (22), both residents of adjoining Thane. "The victim (25) worked as a housemaid in a residential society in Bandra (East)," he said. According to him ,on Sunday afternoon, she suddenly disappeared after she went out of the housing society.
He said that when she did not return, her employer informed her parents who reside in Virar, a distant suburb of Mumbai, and they lodged a missing person complaint with the Kherwadi police station. "However, the woman's mobile phone was active and it showed her location in Thane," the official said, adding on Monday, she was found at the Dadar railway station along with Kurhade.
He said that the woman told the police in writing about her ordeal after which Kurhade was taken in custody. During interrogation, it came to light that the woman was raped in a room in Thane, the official said, adding the police later picked up Kaale, too, from the adjoining city.
Kurhade revealed he met the victim via a common friend and on Sunday he took her to his home in Thane to introduce her to his parents as he wanted to marry her, he said. But when Kurhade's parents denied him permission to marry the woman, he asked his colleague Kaale to drop her to her workplace in Bandra, the official said.
However, Kaale took the woman to a room in Thane and allegedly raped her, he said. When Kurhade came to know about the crime, he reached the spot and took the victim with him to drop her at her workplace in Bandra, but was arrested when they reached Dadar, the official said.
An FIR under IPC sections 366 (kidnapping or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 376 (rape) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) was registered against both the accused, he said.
On Tuesday, they were produced before a court which sent them in police custody till October 15, the official added.