Mumbai court rejects pre-arrest bail plea of cop in rape case

A court here on Tuesday rejected the pre-arrest bail plea of a police officer, accused of repeatedly raping a 35-year-old woman from Uzbekistan over a period of eight years.

Sessions court judge K S Hore rejected the anticipatory bail application of police inspector Bhanudas, alias Anil Jadhav, who has been suspended.

Earlier this month, the woman had lodged a complaint at the suburban Chembur police station, accusing the police officer of raping her for eight years on the pretext of a false promise of marriage.

In her complaint, the woman claimed that she has a five-year-old child from Jadhav.

She first met him in 2004 when she needed help to extend her visa, the Uzbek woman said in the complaint.

She was looking for work in Bollywood and Jadhav allegedly told her that he knew some film producers who can help her, according to the complaint.

In 2008, she alleged, he raped her for the first time in a hotel in Chembur.

But when she got pregnant, Jadhav reneged on his promise to marry her and forced her to abort the pregnancy, the woman alleged.

In 2013, she shifted to Kharghar in adjoining Navi Mumbai and gave birth to a baby boy, she said.

Jadhav also helped the Uzbek woman to change her identity with the help of forged documents so that she could stay in India, according to the complaint.