Tanzanian national booked for raping event anchor

NRI booked for allegedly raping event anchor, promising marriage. The accused sexually assaulted her multiple times in different locations.

MUMBAI: A 41-year-old Non-Resident Indian (NRI) has been booked for allegedly raping a 34-year-old event anchor several times and promising to marry her.

Minor Rape. (File Photo: IANS) (IANS)

The complainant and the accused, Viran Patel, met at a friend’s birthday party in October 2022. They later exchanged numbers and soon became good friends. In February 2023, the woman shifted to his Lower Parel-based flat,” said a police officer.

As they both were from the same community and unmarried, they decided to get married, and accordingly, the complainant introduced him to all her relatives.

The woman was opposed to a physical relationship before marriage, the accused used to insist on a physical relationship leading to quarrels between them. “Both of them started staying together at his flat in Lower Parel, where he sexually assaulted her. He then took her to his friend’s farmhouse in Alibag, his flats in Pune, and a luxurious hotel in Pune where he forced himself on her, promising to marry her in December,” said the police officer.

Patel has been booked under sections 376 (rape), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police said Patel holds a Tanzanian passport. He was born in India but grew up in Tanzania and has an import and export business of tiles.