16 January,2011 07:24 AM IST | | Akela
The Pune crime branch has arrested a 22 year-old security guard as the main suspect in the Amby Valley rape that occurred on December 29, 2010. The suspect has been remanded to police custody until January 18
The Pune crime branch (rural) claim to have solved the rape case of 29 year-old employee of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). Police have arrested a 22 year-old security guard who was posted in the private valley owned by the Sahara Group. The local court has sent him to police custody till January 18.
The accused, identified as Dharmendrakumar Rambhau Chaudhari, is an employee of Front Line Security Guard company and was currently residing at the Valley but is a native of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh. He has been working at Amby Valley for the last two years.
"During interrogation we zeroed in on four points against the accused. Firstly, the Valley administration served tea to the security guards twice (11 pm and 3.45 am) every day. Chaudhary did come for tea at 11 pm, but at 3.45 am he went missing. This coincides with the time of the rape. Secondly, the victim identified the voice of the accused from a voice sample of three security guards. The police had prepared a sketch of the accused as described by the victim, which is an 80% match. And finally, on December 24, the accused tried to attempt suicide with the help of a broken drinking glass while we were interrogating ghim," said Bhausaheb Andhalkar, in-charge of the crime branch.
MiD DAY had investigated the matter and published the story first under the headline "The security guard behind Amby Valley rape" in the December 29, 2010 edition.
Incident recap
On December 29, 2010, there was a two-day pan-India conference at Amby Valley. Around 270 executives from Hindustan Unilever attended the event. It included the 29-year-old victim, a resident of Colaba in South Mumbai who was then posted in Delhi.
According to her statement, she returned to her room at midnight. She was alone in the room since her roommate, an executive from Kolkata, had failed to attend the conference. She kept the lights on but forgot to lock the room. Between 2.30 am and 3 am, the accused entered her room and switched off the lights. He gagged her at knifepoint, raped her and forced her to engage in unnatural sex. He raped her twice before fleeing.
When contacted, Gulam Zeeshan, spokesperson for Aamby Valley, said, "I am aware of the arrest of Chaudhary. He is a poor and weak man. He cannot overpower a woman. The police is victimizing him."
