Man nabbed for raping woman; said he could rid her of ‘spirits’

GREATERNOIDA:POLICE on Wednesday nabbed an occult practitioner for allegedly having raped a woman near a village in Rabupura area of Greater Noida on the pretext of helping her ‘get rid of negative energy’, officials said.

According to the police, the suspect — 35-year-old Pappan — is a resident of Faleda village under Rabupura police station, Gautam Budh Nagar .

On Monday, a couple — a 20-year-old woman and her husband — had approached Pappan, seeking help with some personal troubles that they believed were paranormal.

The women later accused Pappan of having raped her. The incident was reported by the woman’s husband. The accused was arrested from outskirts of his village , police said.

“We had arrested the suspect and presented him in front of the district court, from where he was sent to jail. The man was known locally and often offered to ‘cure’ them from the influence of spirits. After the victim registered a complaint,” said Vineet Kumar, station house officer, Rabupura police station.

He added that the man had no criminal history.

According to the victim’s husband, they had gotten married in February. His wife, he claimed, often became very aggressive with little provocation. He also claimed that unexplained things had started happening in their home. The man then contacted Pappan.

The man has also claimed that the suspect had visited the family four days ago, taken ₹5000 from them and had asked them to bring the woman to his village, a few kilometers away.

“We reached there at around 11am on Monday and he took us to a field nearby and gave us some ash to taste, which was probably laced with sedatives. Both me and my wife lost consciousness after that. When I woke up, my wife recounted her ordeal to me. We confronted the tantric, but he threatened to kill us. It was then that I decided to approach the police,” said the husband. Based on the man’s complaint, a case was registered at Rabupura police station against the suspect under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.