Mumbai Crime: 38-year-old dismissed cop held for allegedly raping 16-year-old girl

Police arrested 38-year-old dismissed cop

Navi Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a 38-year-old man for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in the Balaji Hills, Nerul.

The incident occurred in the month of December 2022, when the victim had gone to the nearby garden with her friends after classes. The accused, a dismissed constable, had posed as a cop and tried to extort money. When the teenagers told him that they don't have money, he sexually assaulted the girl.

On December 14, a 16-year-old girl registered a complaint with the Nerul police station that, a man claiming to be a cop came to her and threatened her with action, and demanded money. When she and her friends told him that they didn't have any money, the man beat up her friends and then sexually assaulted her and threatened dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. But the initial probe by Nerul police indicated a discrepancy in the complaint and also suspected it as a cooked-up story.

Meanwhile, Crime Branch Unit 3 started a parallel investigation into the matter and visited the spot to find any clues.

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"We spoke with the victim and her friend at length and took the description of the cop and his appearance. We started working on the same. We also checked the footage of over 40 CCTV cameras around the incident spot to get some clue," said Shatrughna Mali, Senior Inspector of Unit 3.

API Ishan Kharote, Sagar Pawar, PSI Sunil More formed a team to investigate the offence.

The vital clue for the investigation was that the person had claimed to be a cop. Crime Branch sleuths screened 10 to 15 such criminals in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai area.

Cops got the name of the suspect who was earlier arrested in a crime and his features matched with the suspect in CCTV footage. The accused was verified and was found to be the same person in the CCTV footage. The search was launched for the man and was arrested from Andheri on January 6.

"Accused joined Navi Mumbai police in 2008 as a constable and was booked in NRI police station in the year 2014 for kidnapping and extortion when he was posted at Taloja police station. He is currently on bail in the case and he has done this act now," said DCP (Crime) Amit Kale.

The accused has been booked under IPC section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and relevant sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012.