Woman kidnapped from subway, molested

After a long day at work, a 22-year-old woman was walking in the subway at Navi Mumbai’s Rabale station, completely unaware that two men were following her. HT reports.

After a long day at work, a 22-year-old woman was walking in the subway at Navi Mumbai’s Rabale station, completely unaware that two men were following her.

HT Image

The men allegedly assaulted, drugged, kidnapped and molested her before throwing her out an autorickshaw in Bhandup on Thursday.

The victim, who works with a private firm at MIDC in Rabale, was on her way home around 5.30pm, the Bhandup police said.

The main accused Vipul Sunil Surve and his friend stopped her, kicked her in the stomach and then gagged her with a drug-laced handkerchief, the police said.

“The victim alleged that one of them put a handkerchief over her mouth after which she started to feel dizzy,” said N Pathan, senior inspector, Rabale police station, adding that the chemical substance they used caused burns on her legs and right hand.

The police said the two men then took the semi-conscious woman in an autorickshaw, where she was allegedly molested. She was then thrown from the rickshaw near Shankar temple in Bhandup at 8.30pm.

While the police have arrested Surve, they are now looking for eyewitnesses and are conducting investigations at Rabale railway station. “We are trying to ascertain why they targeted her,” said Pathan. The victim said she knew Surve, a Sewri resident, because he was from her village, Dapoli in Ratnagiri.

A case has been filed under sections 366 (kidnapping), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 336 (endangering life of others) and 34 (common intention).