Woman travels over 800 km from UP to file rape case in Nagpur

A 22-year-old Nepalese woman travelled all the way from Lucknow to file a rape case here in Maharashtra against a man, police said on Monday.

Since the man warned her against approaching police in connection with the alleged offence that took place in the Uttar Pradesh capital, the woman fled from there and somehow managed to reach Nagpur, located over 800 km from Lucknow. She came to a friend here who helped her in lodging a zero FIR, they said.

A zero First information Report (FIR) can be filed in any police station and it can be later transferred to the appropriate police station having competent jurisdiction.

As per the woman's complaint, she came to India from Nepal in 2018 for a job.

Since March this year, she was staying with a woman friend in the latter's rented flat on Faizabad Road in Lucknow, senior police inspector Wazeer Sheikh, from Nagpur's Koradi police station, told PTI.

The friend introduced the victim to the accused, Pravin Rajpal Yadav, a Lucknow native who worked as software engineer in Dubai, on a video call. According to the victim, she had kept Rs 1.5 lakh with her friend and when she asked for it, the latter did not return the money and started beating and harassing her.

The victim complained about this to Yadav, who then booked a room for the victim at a hotel in Lucknow and asked her to shift there, the official said.

Af ter a couple of days, the accused also came to Lucknow from Dubai. He met the victim at the hotel, where he allegedly drugged her and raped her, the official said.

The accused also shot some objectionable photographs and videos of the victim. He also took her to a friend's place in Lucknow where he allegedly again gave her drugs and raped her, the official said.