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18-year-old heading to Pune raped by trailer driver in Mumbai
An 18-year-old woman, who was on her way to meet her husband in Pune, was raped in Uran, early on Wednesday, by a trailer truck driver. Although she was abandoned
An 18-year-old woman, who was on her way to meet her husband in Pune, was raped in Uran, early on Wednesday, by a trailer truck driver. Although she was abandoned in a remote area after being raped, the woman managed to note down the license plate number of the trailer truck and report the crime. The driver, Vikas Singh, tried to evade Panvel police, but after a chase that lasted almost an hour, Singh was arrested on Wednesday morning.
The 18-year-old had come to Mumbai on Sunday, from Mahuvadi village in Uttar Pradesh by a Shramik Special train. Her husband is a labourer and lives in Pune. The couple were married seven months ago. “The woman could not meet her husband for over four months due to the lockdown so they planned to meet in Pune and settle there. She reached Mumbai on Sunday and stayed with a relative who suggested she travel to Kalyan and then to Panvel by bus, from where she was told any vehicle would give her a lift to Pune,” said an officer from Panvel police station.
On Tuesday afternoon, the woman reached Kalyan by a local train and took a bus to Panvel. At around 12.30am on Wednesday, she reached Kalamboli junction and around 1.15am, Singh, 35, offered her a lift in the trailer truck he was driving. However, instead of taking her to Pune, he parked the vehicle at a T-point in Uran and despite the 18-year-old’s attempts to fight him off by biting him, Singh raped her. Afterwards, Singh abandoned her and left with the trailer truck. “The place was remote, but the woman showed presence of mind and noted the trailer’s number on her mobile. She also dialled 100, informed the officer on duty of her predicament and gave her location at around 2.30am,” said the police officer.
A police team, including a woman officer, reached the spot soon after and took the woman to a hospital. The woman told the crime branch team the details of the crime and the license plate number that she’d noted down.
Police inspector Sunil Tarmale said, “Around 3.30 am, we got the number of the trailer and decided to look for it in Western Railway’s warehouse area where trailers are parked for the night.” The police found Singh in his trailer truck, but he tried to evade arrest. “When we asked him to come down, he started the trailer and escaped. We followed him for over 45 minutes. At Palaspe Phata, he took an under-construction bridge by mistake and had to stop mid-way. He left the vehicle and tried to run, but we caught him,” said Tarmale.
A case against Singh has registered under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code.
