Minor girl lured with TV role, gangraped in Mira Road, 2 held
The Mira Road police have arrested two men who gangraped a 16-year-old girl by luring her with a false promise of helping her provide an assignment as the lead actress in a TV serial.
Less than 24 hours after the girl registered a complaint on Monday, a police team led by PSI Mahesh Kuchekar and personnel Vijay Brahmne swung into action and arrested the duo on Tuesday afternoon.
The arrested accused have been identified as Ammaya Rakesh Bhavsaar (19) and Shubham Lalbihari Pathak (23), both residents of Mira Road.
While Ammaya is a S.Y.BCom student, Shubham works as a driver. However, their third accomplice, Rajesh Rathod alias Thaapa who raped the girl by impersonating as a model co-coordinator, is still at large.
In her complaint to the police the girl (a class IX dropout) has stated that on 9, June, Bhavsar and Pathak asked her to accompany them to Gorai Beach, telling her that they will introduce her to an influential model coordinator who would help her bag roles in TV serials.
The unsuspecting girl accompanied the duo to Gorai Beach where they met Thaapa and his friends. Then she was allegedly forced to drink beer. The girl who was in a semi-conscious state was molested by Thaapa in the car, following which the duo took her to an isolated spot in the Ramdev Park area of Mira Road and took turns to rape her late in the night.
The accused also threatened the girl with dire consequences if she revealed anything to her family or police. However, the girl mustered courage and registered a complaint with the police.
“Both the accused will be presented before the court on Wednesday and a manhunt has been launched to nab their accomplice who posed as a model coordinator to molest the girl,” said Senior Police Inspector Jagdish Shinde.
While a case under section 376-d (gangrape), 354 (outraging modesty), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 504 (provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC along with sections 4, 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered against the arrested duo. Thaapa, who is still absconding, has been charged for molestation, police said.