Occultist held for raping woman

New Delhi: A 50-year-old occultist who allegedly raped a woman on the pretext of a ritual in west Delhi’s Jwala Bagh area has been arrested, police said today.

Sohaib Alam claimed to be a practitioner of occult science and was arrested on Monday after the woman approached police and narrated the incident, following which a case of rape was registered, a senior police official said.

In her complaint the woman alleged that she wanted to get rid of another woman, with whom her husband was involved in an extra-marital affair.

It was her sister-in-law who had recommended her the name of the occultist. On Monday, she went to Alam’s clinic where he convinced her for a special ritual requiring exorcism, the official said.

During the ritual, he forced himself upon her and later tried to convince her not to disclose the matter to anyone claiming that that would lead to failure of the ritual, he added.