Palghar:

Around four years after a Nigerian man was allegedly killed by four persons in Nalasopara in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, police arrested one of the accused who was found to be living in the same town with a fake identity, a crime branch official said on Tuesday.

With the arrest of Kancha alias Roshan Bechain Mandal alias Asfaque Mohammad Sheikh, the number of the arrested persons in the crime has gone up to two, while two others are on the run.

The body of Joseph alias Chindiniju Amechi Wilson (35) was found lying on a road in the Pragati Nagar area of Nalasopara on October 16, 2019.

During the investigation, police identified four men for their alleged role in the crime and arrested one of them, Naseer Khan. A charge sheet was filed against him in the court, the Vasai crime branch (unit II) official said.

Meanwhile, police received information that accused Kancha alias Roshan Mandal moved to Bengaluru six months after committing the crime and is currently living in Nalasopara with a fake identity and arrested him, the official said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palghar:

Five persons were arrested in Thane and Palghar districts in Maharashtra for allegedly raping a 35-year-old woman repeatedly after promising to remove “vastu mistakes” in her house and other “evils spells” through black magic, a police official said on Sunday.

The five persons who have been arrested are the victim’s husband’s friends and they told her that some evil spell had been cast on her husband and that to regain peace she would have to be part of some rituals, the official said.

“The accused started frequenting the house of the victim from April 2018 and would conduct rituals when the victim was alone. They would give her a spiked drink calling it ‘panchamrit’ and would rape her,” he said.

The accused also took gold and money from her claiming it was for various rituals that would ensure peace and prosperity and a stable government job for her husband, he said.

“She was raped in 2019 in Yeoor forest in Thane, then in a mutt of the main accused in Kandivali, in a resort in Lonavala. They took Rs 2.10 lakh as well as gold from her,” he said.

After the woman from Talasari, a predominantly tribal area in the district, filed a complaint on September 11, a police team arrested Ravindra Bhate, Dileep Gaikwad, Gaurav Salvi, Mahendra Kumavat and Ganesh Kadam for the crime.

“We are finding out if the five accused have used the same modus operandi on others as well,” Talasari police station senior inspector Vijay Mutadak said.

Palghar Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil, in an official release, said the five have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape) 376(2)(n) (offence of committing rape repeatedly on the same woman) 420 (cheating).

The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act 2013 has also been invoked, he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)