BENGALURU: A businessman allegedly molested and raped a 17-year-old student by threatening her with a pistol-shaped cigarette lighter. He even posed as a police officer to force her in accompanying him in his car, according to the victim in her complaint. The accused Srinath R (32), who runs a mobile phone shop, was arrested on Thursday.The incident occurred on July 23 at Yelahanka New Town and police managed to trace him based on CCTV footage from the area. The accused, a resident of Chikkabommasandra in Yelahanka, also owns a taxi.
A senior police officer said that around 3.30 pm on July 23, the victim, a first year pre-university student, had gone to a park nearby along with her male friend after class hours. Both were sitting on a bench in the park when the accused approached them and started asking their details. “He claimed to be a police officer and forced them to go with him. The male friend ran away and the girl too tried to escape. Srinath then chased her, pulled out a pistol-shaped cigarette lighter and threatened to shoot her if she did not sit in the car. The scared girl did not raise an alarm and he then snatched her phone and demanded `5,000 from her,” the officer said.
When the girl told him that she did not have any money and that she would give it to him the next day, he drove around Yelahanka for one hour while molesting the girl inside the cab. Later, he took her to his rented house where he allegedly raped her. The wife of the accused had gone to her parental home for the Aashada month.
“Around 5.30 pm, Srikanth dropped her at a bus stop nearby and again threatened her not to file a police complaint. He said that he knew her college and that he would come there and kill her if he found out that she had approached the police. Traumatised, the girl managed to reach her house and told her mother about the incident,” the police officer said.They then rushed to Yelahanka New Town police station and filed a case.
The victim was able to share some details of the car driven by the accused and police then obtained CCTV footage to trackhis movements. He was consequently nabbed on Thursday evening.
Srinath has been booked for rape and kidnap under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was subjected to medical tests and was later handed over to judicial custody.“We checked his background and found that he was not involved in any other crimes in the past,” the police officer said.