The Mumbai Police crime branch sleuths on Friday took into custody two more persons in connection with the alleged rape of a 28-year-old model at a police station in the city early this month, thus taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight. Among the eight persons arrested, three are police personnel attached to Saki Naka police station. The three arrested police personnel were identified as Assistant Police Inspectors Suresh Suryavanshi, Sunil Khapte and police constable R Kode.
Addressing the media here, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Atul Kulkarni said that the two persons arrested on Friday used to work as informers to police. “These two informers had colluded with police in committing the crime”. Apart from committing the sexual assault on the model, the arrested persons have booked for extorting money from the victim, Informed crime branch sources said that the accused police personnel, along with other accomplices, had detained the model on April 4 and allegedly committed a sexual assault on her after threatening to book her for prostitution
Sources said that the accused persons had accosted the model when she – along with a male friend – were returning from a five-star hotel at Saki Naka in north Mumbai where they went on the night of April 4, to collect dues from a person who had hired her for a shoot. The accused threatened to book the model for prostitution and demanded Rs4.5 lakh to let both of them off the hook.
Apart from parting with the jewellery she was wearing, she also handed over a cash Rs50,000 that her male friend withdrew from the nearby ATM. The two assistant police inspectors took the model to their police station and allegedly raped her. Meanwhile, the male friend arranged the money demanded by them through his friends. The police personnel let the model and her male friend go after they paid up the entire money demanded by the former.
later on April 21, the victim sent an SMS to Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, who took details from her and asked the crime branch to investigate the case. Having registered an FIR in the case, the Crime branch sleuths had on Thursday arrested six persons, including three police personnel. The investigators arrested two more persons – both police informers – on Friday, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight.