Man, claiming to be divorcee, promises marriage and rapes woman; held

Police on Monday said they had arrested a 45-year-old man on charges of raping and threatening a 35-year-old widow in south Delhi’s Aya Nagar near Fatehpur Beri

Police on Monday said they had arrested a 45-year-old man on charges of raping and threatening a 35-year-old widow in south Delhi’s Aya Nagar near Fatehpur Beri. The man had befriended the woman through a common friend nearly three years ago. He allegedly proposed her marriage by claiming to be a divorcee, but she later found that he had a wife and children, the police said.

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Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said on January 9 (Saturday), the woman approached the Fatehpur Beri police station and filed a complaint against the man. In her complaint, the woman said her husband died in 2015 and a few months after that, she came in contact with this man.

As per the woman’s allegation, the man first raped her in his car in Aya Nagar in 2017 after promising to marry her. Recently, the woman learnt that the man was married and had been living with his wife and children in Ghitorni village, the DCP said.

“When the woman confronted him, he started threatening to harm her -- he claimed to be an influential man in his neighbourhood. As the woman found herself cheated, she approached the police and filed a complaint,” a police officer associated with the probe said, requesting anonymity.

DCP Thakur said a case of rape and criminal intimidation was registered under the Indian Penal Code’s sections 376 and 506 and the suspect was arrested on Sunday. During questioning, the DCP said the man, Sanjay Singh Lohia, disclosed that he was working as a peon at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Delhi.

“Lohia also confessed that he deceived the woman and made physical relations with her on the pretext of marriage after claiming to be a divorcee. He has been sent to jail,” Thakur said.