Cops identify suspect from CCTV footage

The police have identified the businessman who allegedly raped a 40-year-old woman at a 5-star hotel in Bandra on Friday. The cops examined CCTV footage from the hotel, which shows the accused and the woman entering the premises together.

“We checked the CCTV footage, which confirms that the woman was at the hotel on Friday afternoon. She arrived with the accused but left alone, much before the accused did,” said an officer from the Bandra police station.

Hotel staff said that the accused meant to stay there till Saturday. However, he checked out on Friday.

The businessman, who is from Gujarat, befriended the woman three years ago on a social networking site, after which the two exchanged numbers and talk on the phone regularly.

“The two would chat on Whatsapp and talk on the phone,” said a police officer.

The woman was in Alibaug with her family when the accused arrived in the city and asked her to meet him. He took her to his room in a 5-star hotel on the pretext of offering her coffee. He gave her water, after which she started feeling dizzy, said police. He allegedly raped her while she was semi-conscious.

After the woman regained consciousness,she went back to Alibaug and narrated the incident to her husband.

Police said the accused switched off his mobile phone immediately after woman’s husband called.

The woman and her husband went to the Bandra police, who registered a case of rape on Sunday. The police have booked the suspect for raping the woman and spiking her drink.

THE HOTEL STAFF SAID THAT THE ACCUSED, WHO IS FROM GUJARAT, MEANT TO STAY TILL SATURDAY BUT CHECKED OUT ON FRIDAY