Auto driver arrested for raping 20-year-old woman

MUMBAI: An autorickshaw driver was arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman at Arnala beach in Vasai on January 21, police said.

MUMBAI: The Vanrai police on Friday arrested an autorickshaw driver for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman at Arnala beach in Vasai on January 21. The accused, 30-year-old Rajratan Vaival, met her at Vasai railway station, took her to the beach in his auto and raped her, and later abandoned her near the railway station, police said. On January 22, the young woman was spotted crying near Goregaon East railway station by a passerby who alerted the Vanrai police. She was then rushed to Jogeshwari Trauma Centre, where her medical examination revealed a covered blade and two stones inside her private parts.

Auto driver arrested for raping 20-year-old woman

The victim told the police that she had come to Mumbai from Lucknow by flight, but there was no evidence of this in CCTV footage from the airport, said a police officer. “Later, we learnt that the woman lived in Vasai, so we traced her family and recorded her father’s statement,” the officer noted.

Based on the probe and statements of the victim and her father, the Vanrai police registered a rape case and initiated a search for the accused. They arrested Vaival on Friday after ascertaining his identity by scanning through CCTV footage of railway stations between Vasai and Churchgate.

“The woman and the auto driver went to Arnala Beach, where they had planned to spend the night together. But since she did not have a valid ID, they could not get a hotel room and so spent the night on the beach. It was then that she was raped,” said the officer.

The police, however, claimed that the victim is mentally disturbed and she may herself have inserted a blade and two stones inside her private parts.

“Her father told us that in 2023 too, two rape cases were lodged at Nirmal Nagar and Shivaji Nagar police stations based on her complaints. We think she has mental health problems and have advised her father to get her treated,” said the officer.