Woman kidnapped from Mumbai, raped in Guj; 3 booked

The police in neighbouring Palghar district has booked three persons for allegedly abducting and raping a 31-year-old married woman in Gujarat.

Two of the accused allegedly kidnapped the woman, a resident of neighbouring Mumbai, from Vasai Phata in Palghar on October 3 on the pretext of showing her some temples and sites of pilgrimages, a police official said today.

The same day, her family members filed a missing person's complaint with the Mumbai police.

In the meantime, the accused took the woman to a locality in Gujarat's Kutch district where the third accused allegedly raped her at his house, he said.

The three accused also allegedly tried to sell the woman to a man for Rs 1.5 lakh and get her married to him. However, when she resisted their attempts, they beat her up, the official said quoting the woman's complaint.

The woman managed to escape from the clutches of the accused and reached Mumbai on October 11 following which she lodged a complaint with the Kasturba Marg police in the metropolis. The complaint was later transferred to the Vasai police, he said.

Based on the complaint, the Waliv police in Vasai division last evening registered offences under IPC sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and other relevant provisions.

A search was on to nab the accused, the official said.