Vidushi Nautiyal, Pune
The Pune Airport police apprehended a tea vendor for raping a 32-year-old woman on Friday. The assault occurred in a lodge in Kharadi, following a dispute at an eatery in Viman Nagar.
The eatery’s manager and a staff employee have also been charged with causing harm, harassing and abusing the woman while shoving her out of the establishment in the early hours of the day.
The victim and her friends, including two men, dined at the eatery on the night of September 27. The men parted ways early, as the woman and her companion decided to depart at half past midnight on Thursday. As the two women prepared to leave, a quarrel erupted over payment, with the victim unable to recall her debit card PIN for settling the Rs 9,500 bill. The disagreement escalated, and the eatery manager and staff reportedly took away her two cellphones, three debit cards, PAN card, and a headphone before pushing them out of the establishment. The eatery’s employees told her that once she paid the bill, they would give back her items.
A tea vendor, a frequent visitor to the eatery who was present during the altercation, offered to escort the woman on his motorcycle. Instead of taking her to her destination, the tea vendor took her to a Kharadi lodge and provided her Aadhaar card data to secure a room before he sexually assaulted her. He then left the woman at the lodge, threatening her not to disclose the incident.
Once she returned to her residence, the survivor promptly contacted her friend and recounted the harrowing experience. On Friday, she approached the Airport police and filed a complaint, identifying the suspect.
The police conducted a thorough investigation, scrutinizing CCTV footage from the Viman Nagar eatery, which showed the suspect taking her away on his motorcycle. Further inquiries with eatery staff revealed that the tea vendor ran a nearby tea stall and was a regular visitor. The police located and arrested him at his residence in the MHADA colony in Viman Nagar on Friday. A magisterial court subsequently ordered his custodial remand until October 3.
Senior Inspector Vilas Sonde has stated that they will initiate an investigation into the actions of both the eatery manager and a staff member who confiscated the survivor’s possessions.