2 women who filed 5 rape cases in Gujarat and Goa arrested for extortion: Police

The North Goa police said investigators have already detected three rape cases filed by the two women in Goa and another two in Gujarat

PANAJI: Two women have been arrested on charges of extortion in Goa following accusations that they honey-trapped men and held out threats of filing rape charges against them to extort money from them, police said on Tuesday.

North Goa SP Nidhin Valsan said the antecedents of the two women emerged during investigation into a rape case filed by one of the two women (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A Goa police officer said investigators have already detected three rape cases filed by the two women in Goa and another two in Gujarat.

North Goa superintendent of police (SP) Nidhin Valsan said the district police also registered a rape case on the basis of the complaint of one of the two women on August 23. “During the investigation, the police inspector noticed that the woman filed a similar case of rape in two other cases. Since she was a resident of Gujarat, we reached out to the Gujarat Police and noticed that she was a complainant in two other cases of rape registered in Gujarat,” Valsan said.

The two women, and their third accomplice, Vishwadeep Gohil of Gujarat’s Bhavnagar town, have been arrested under sections 386 (extortion) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and are in police custody.

Valsan didn’t elaborate on the alleged role of the three individuals. “The details of these cases are being obtained from the police stations concerned and further investigation is in progress,” Valsan added.

The arrests were made on a complaint by Kiran Patel, the man who was accused of raping them, on Monday. Patel alleged that the two women, who “developed a friendship” with him, threatened to file rape charges against him if he didn’t pay ₹2 lakh.