Three men – a doctor, an advocate, and a photographer – have been arrested by the police in Anand for allegedly raping a woman multiple times and circulating her private pictures and videos.
The accused have been identified as Sandeep Kumar Chandrashekhar, a photographer from Anand district town of Indian state of Gujarat, advocate Pradyumansinh Gohil from Ahmedabad, and Mehul Prajapati, a physician from Borsad town in Anand.
A middle-aged woman from Anand alleged that the three accused conspired and raped her on multiple instances in the past one-and-a-half years, forcefully clicked indecent pictures of her and threatened to leak them, said the police. The victim registered a complaint a week ago, after which an FIR was lodged at the cybercrime police station in Anand.
“The victim had become friends with Sandeep Kumar four years ago. Around one-and-a-half years ago, Sandeep fought with the victim on some issue and started harassing her by demanding money after which the victim stopped communicating with him. One day, the victim received a call from advocate Pradyuman Gohil from Ahmedabad, who first claimed that he was looking to hire an employee. The victim showed interest in the job and started talking with Gohil. She revealed to him she was being harassed by Sandeep. Gohil then made a conference call taking the victim and Sandeep on the line and asked Sandeep not to harass her anymore for money,” said a senior police official.
“Later, the advocate called up the victim and claimed that he had given money to Sandeep to help her and called her to a hotel. The victim was then raped by the advocate who then clicked her pictures and videos. A few days later, the advocate again tried to call the victim to a hotel and when she resisted, he threatened to leak her pictures and videos. The victim then went to another hotel with the advocate and therein he again forcefully clicked her pictures,” said the official.
“As per the victim, at that moment the advocate also called Sandeep Kumar, who was hiding in the bathroom, to the room. Then Sandeep also clicked her pictures and videos and later raped the woman on several instances by threatening to leak them. Later, when the victim fell sick, she went to a physician Dr Mehul Prajapati, who after her visit, started calling her on her number,” said the official.
“The victim then blocked his number on her phone after which the accused doctor used another phone number to send messages to her over WhatsApp indecent pictures and videos, which were clicked by the two other accused. The accused doctor then forced himself on the victim multiple times,” added the official.
“Looking at the seriousness of the crime, all three accused were booked under IPC 376 (2) (n) for committing rape on a woman on multiple instances, 354b for assault on woman and sections of the information technology amendment act. The accused have been arrested on Sunday after investigation and technical analysis,” said the official.
Source: The Indian Express