Mumbai, June 13: A 21-year-old woman working as a singer in a bar was allegedly raped by the driver of an autorickshaw in which she was returning home in the wee hours of Friday. The driver was arrested when he was taking her home after the incident, the police said.
The alleged victim (name withheld to protect her identity) is a native of Delhi. She has been living with her sister at Four Bungalows in Mhada Colony in Andheri (W) for three years.
The driver, Pramod Amarnath Shukla, is a resident of Vaishali Nagar in Dahisar (E).
The woman had come to Mumbai to become a playback singer. But when she did not find success, she started working as a singer at Mela Bar near the Dahisar checknaka.
On Wednesday, around 1.30am, after the bar closed, she was waiting near the checknaka for an auto to return home.
“A rickshaw (MH-02-UA-2528) stopped in front of her and she told the driver to take her to her home in Andheri,” senior inspector Pradeep Suryavanshi of the MIDC police station said. “However, when the auto reached Goregaon, the driver changed the route and took the vehicle towards JVLR,” he said.
When the woman questioned him about the diversion, he told her that he knew a shortcut to her home. “He then stopped the vehicle at an isolated place and forced himself upon her. He then raped her,” Suryavanshi said.
“After the incident, the driver told the woman that he will drop her home. As he took the vehicle to the main road, the woman spotted a patrolling beat marshal bike and shouted for help. Shukla accelerated the autorickshaw to avoid arrest,” Suryavanshi said. “But our beat marshals, constables Balu Kadam and Dhanaji Thombare, chased the auto for nearly two kilometres and arrested Shukla.”
The woman was taken to Nagpada police hospital for a medical examination. The report confirmed that she was raped. “Shukla was produced before the Andheri court. He has been remanded in police custody till June 17,” Suryavanshi said.
–Agencies–