41-yr-old held for rape after woman claims he promised to marry her

MUMBAI: The Bandra police arrested a 41-year-old, who claims to be a Congress functionary, for allegedly raping a 23-year-old woman and forcing her to have a live-in

MUMBAI: The Bandra police arrested a 41-year-old, who claims to be a Congress functionary, for allegedly raping a 23-year-old woman and forcing her to have a live-in relationship with him after making false promises of marriage and promising her a big share in his business.

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The woman also alleged that the leader assaulted her and tortured her physically and mentally.

The accused has been remanded in police custody for further probe by a magistrate’s court.

The accused claims to be a member of Congress since 1990. He gave the Bandra police his visiting card. He is married and has two children, and his family is based in Pune. The complainant said that he deliberately did not tell her about his marriage and children. He said that he was an MBA and also a lawyer by qualification, and member of the Congress since 1990.

In 2014, the complainant came to Mumbai from her native place in Kashmir in search of work and got acquainted with the accused in August last year. The accused then gradually got close to her and proposed marriage. He also offered her a 20 per cent share in his business but never gave it to her.

Under these false pretexts, he forced her to get into a live-in relationship and the two lived at his Bandra West residence.

The complainant claimed that he introduced her to everyone as his wife.

Earlier t his month, t he accused took the woman to Mauritius. He got jealous when a waiter video-recorded them and so took her to their room and raped her, she said. He had also hit her on the head with a wooden plank.

Speaking to reporters after filing an FIR, she said, “I would not have filed the FIR had it been a live-in relationship. He raped me. He has political clout and so I was scared. He exploited me physically and tortured me repeatedly. He had promised to marry me, but I later found out he was already married.”