-- Samir Umarye
The rape case of a 20-year-old mentally challenged woman has taken a new twist, with Bicholim Police registering a case against four more unidentified persons on charges of gang-raping the victim. It may be recalled that woman was reported missing at the Mapusa Police station on April 14. The woman had left her residence to proceed to a temple on April 13 but when she did not return home till late evening, her father rushed to the police station and lodged a missing complaint and provided his daughter’s mobile number to the police. Police sources said that they managed to obtain call details of the woman’s mobile phone number and traced her calls to Pradip Malik. The police traced Malik at Latambarcem and arrested him from a house but did not find the victim. During the course of interrogation, Malik admitted that the woman had already left for Mapusa by public transport. Police immediately contacted the Karasvaddo Police outpost and asked them to stop the bus. The police intercepted the bus at Karasvaddo-Mapusa and asked the woman to alight from the vehicle. The police later arrested another accused, Chandrashekhar Malik, in connection with the case. When the victim’s statement was recorded on April 22 in the presence of NGOs and a psychiatrist, police was informed that she had been raped by four more persons at Mayem and Ladphem on April 18, after she was taken in a car to an isolated place. Following the disclosure by the victim, Bicholim Police have registered a case against the four accused under Sections 365, 354, 342 and 376 read with Section 34 of IPC. Police sources said they managed to obtain call details of the woman’s mobile phone number and traced calls to Pradip Malik. The police traced Malik at Latambarcem and arrested him.