LLB student rape case in Vadodara: Prime accused CA arrested

The accused, who had been on the run since an FIR was lodged on September 19, was nabbed from Palitana, where he was living in a dharamshala for the last few days after travelling to Lonavala in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, police said.

The Vadodara city Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Thursday arrested the Chartered Accountant, who was wanted as the prime accused in the case of the alleged rape of a 24-year-old LLB student from the city. The accused, who had been on the run since an FIR was lodged on September 19, was nabbed from Palitana, where he was living in a dharamshala for the last few days after travelling to Lonavala in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, police said.

The police formally arrested the Chartered Accountant Thursday evening after he tested negative for Covid-19 as per mandatory protocol.

In the primary interrogation, the accused told the police that he took shelter in Thane and Lonavala in Maharashtra before travelling to Palitana.

He had also escaped to Rajasthan, following the complaint by the LLB student, who has accused him of raping her multiple times as well as for criminal intimidation and blackmail with nude photographs from the act.

According to police, the accused also states that he not only released the student’s nude pictures to her friend but also offered her a plump share from a land deal to persuade her into not reporting the incident to the police. He is also accused of forcing the victim to forge a physical relationship with an “investor”, an arrested co-accused, in order to “make him happy”.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, DCB, DS Chauhan said that the police will now investigate the trail of the CA’s escape to identify people, who could have sheltered. Chauhan also told media persons that the accused had been living in the dharamshala at Palitana for a few days and officers of the Crime Branch had disguised themselves as guests at the dharamshala to identify and arrest him.

Incidentally, the DCB also caught hold of a bootlegger wanted in several prohibition cases, whose involvement in the said rape case is that of a witness. According to the police, the bootlegger is a friend of the woman and is one of the persons, to whom the CA had sent the nude pictures from the spy camera allegedly installed in the bedroom where both accused raped her in separate incidents.

The bootlegger was nabbed from Haryana and is on his way to Vadodara. Chauhan, however, added that he has not been arrested in the rape case but for separate cases against him registered in Vadodara city. “He is a witness in this case and wanted in other prohibition cases. He was on the run for a long time,” Chauhan said.

A total of three accused have been booked in the case so far including the Chartered Accountant and the “investor”. The third accused is a city-based businessman, who allegedly helped the investor escape and tried to mediate a settlement with the student following the incident.

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