Navi Mumbai police book man for raping female friend 15 years ago; his brother for forcing abortion

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Navi Mumbai Police has registered an FIR on the complaint of a 31-year-old married woman claiming she was raped 15 years ago in Jalna city by her male friend.

The woman claimed that the latter's brother forced her to undergo abortion and threatened her family members, newswire PTI reported quoting an official. No arrest has been made so far, a Khandeshwar police station official said.

The woman, a resident of Panvel, alleged Ramesh Akhade, who is known to her, had raped her repeatedly when they were living in Jalna in 2009, following which she became pregnant, as per the First Information Report.

When the woman informed Akhade about her pregnancy, he and his brother Raju Akhade threatened her and her mother, the official said quoting the FIR. "Raju Akhade forced the woman to accompany him to Sanpada in Navi Mumbai and made her undergo abortion," he added.

The woman later got married to another man but Ramesh Akhade allegedly forced her to get separated from her husband and made her stay with him in Panvel. "However, differences cropped up between them and he drove the woman out of his house, following which she lodged a complaint with the police," as per the FIR.

Police on Sunday registered a Zero FIR (which allows victims to file complaints at any police station regardless of the crime's location) on charges of rape; non-consensual miscarriage; insult intended to provoke breach of the peace, and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code. The case has been transferred to Jalna for investigation, the official added.

Meanwhile, Thane police arrested four members of a gang involved in stealing vehicles and selling them after tampering with documents, an official said on Monday.

MBVV Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey told newswire PTI that the accused were arrested from different parts of the state in the last two days, and 47 stolen vehicles worth more than Rs 7.32 crore were recovered.

The racket came to light when the police were probing into cases of vehicle theft registered at Kashimira and Valiv police stations in February and June 2021, he said.

The gang allegedly used fake documents to register non-existent vehicles in states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and obtained registration numbers and online NOCs from RTO offices for re-registration in Maharashtra, the official said.

The accused then allegedly stole vehicles matching the information in NOCs, replaced the engine and chassis numbers, and registered them in Maharashtra for resale, he said.

The thefts had taken place in the jurisdiction of 16 police stations over the last three to four years, the official said. (With inputs from agencies)