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Rape charges framed against serial offender in Chandigarh
The court of additional district judge Yashika charged Bhatti with rape in connection with a case registered at the Sector 11 police station on June 10, 2024
Over eight months after a 28-year-old gym trainer was arrested for sexually assaulting solitary women at parks in July 2024, a fast-track special court framed charges against him on Friday.
Trial against the accused, Sawan Bhatti, a BSc graduate and resident of Sector 49, Chandigarh, will begin on May 1.
The court of additional district judge Yashika charged Bhatti with rape in connection with a case registered at the Sector 11 police station on June 10, 2024.
A serial sex offender, Bhatti is already facing rape charges in another case, said police.
The present case was registered under Sections 354, 354-A, 376, 392 and 506 of the IPC on the complaint of a female student.
In her complaint, the student stated that on the night of June 6, 2024, around 12.15 am, she was walking alone, when the accused asked her to help him locate a house on her mobile phone. After she helped him, he asked her to accompany him to the house, to which she agreed.
The accused directed her to accompany him on his Honda Activa, threatening to kill her if she resisted. He then drove towards Sector 11, where he stopped in a street and snatched her gold ring and earrings under threat, before sexually assaulting her.
After warning her against disclosing the incident to anyone, he fled the spot. The student called a friend, who arrived at the spot in his car and rescued her. After he alerted the police, the student recorded her statement.
In July, Bhatti was arrested by the Sector 17 police following a search spanning six weeks, spurred by the complaint of a victim who was sexually assaulted at a Sector-16 park.
It was then that police learnt of his involvement in the June sexual assault case as well.
