Godown owner booked for raping woman in front of her children in Ludhiana

The accused committed the crime in front of her two minor sons and offered her ₹7,000 not to tell anyone about the incident, alleges the victim.

A 25-year-old woman has accused the owner of a hosiery waste godown of raping her in front of her two minor sons at his workplace on the Grewal Colony Road here on June 7. The accused has been identified as Mohammad Furkan of Mohalla Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Tibba Road.

On June 7, the victim and her two sons, aged 8 and 5, were out begging when they reached the godown of the accused, who offered her a glass of water after which she felt unconscious. (HT PHOTO)

In her complaint to the police, the woman, a resident of Baba Namdev Colony on the Tibba Road, said her husband was a daily wager. After lockdown was imposed in the region due to coronavirus outbreak, her husband was not getting any work and they were on the verge of starvation, she added.

She said, “I could not see my children sleeping hungry every night. So, I decided to start begging to feed my family . On June 7, I went out for begging along with my two sons, aged 8 and 5, for begging. When I was going door to door, I happened to reach the godown of the accused.”

The woman added, “The owner of the godown asked me and my children to come inside and offered water to us. After drinking water, I fell unconscious. Perhaps, the accused had mixed some sedatives in her glass.”

“After some time, when I gathered consciousness, I found myself raped and my children crying and sitting beside me. When I objected to what had happened, the accused offered to give me ₹7,000 and threatened me not to tell anyone about the incident and leave the city. I then left the godown with my children.”

“I reached home and told everything to my husband. Finally, we decided to lodge a complaint with the police on Sunday,” she added.

Sub-inspector Daljit Singh, SHO at the Tibba police station, said a case under sections 376 (rape) and 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) of the IPC has been lodged against the accused, identified as Mohammad Furkan of Mohalla Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Tibba Road, and initiated investigation. A hunt is on for his arrest, he added.