Perpetrators nabbed by the police.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Goa Police has arrested five men who posed as policemen and allegedly assaulted, robbed and gang raped two women tourists from Delhi, who were traveling in a taxi at Arpora in North Goa on Monday night.
According to North Goa SP Umesh Gaonkar, the two women along with the driver of the taxi they were travelling in, were intercepted and robbed by the culprits and later were taken to a hotel in Arpora were the two women were gang-raped and assaulted.
Gaonkar added that on the way to hotel, the assaulters threatened the taxi driver and took him to an ATM where he was forced to reveal his PIN number to withdraw Rs. 10,000. The police have registered a case for violent robbery too against the five men.
The tourism minister of Goa Dilip Parulekar on Thursday called the arrested youths “nadaan” (naive) and “small-time criminals”. He also added that he deeply regretted what has happened to the two Delhi-based tourists and said that his government will try everything possible to stop such incidents from happening in the future so as to assure the safety of the tourists. Meanwhile, he congratulated the Goa police for nabbing the culprits within a few hours of the report being lodged.
Parulekar told ANI that “I regret that such an incident has happened in Goa. Those who did this were of bad character, they worked in hotels and there are cases of theft registered against them. The police acted swiftly in this case and apprehended the culprits within 6-7 hours. We condemn this incident; we keep vigil at beaches and other places to ensure the safety of the tourists.”
The two rape victims, whose ages were given as 20 and 34, told the police that they were beaten and gang raped by the five men through Monday night and Tuesday before the police came for their rescue. The driver of the tourist taxi was asked to bring a ransom of Rs. 1.5 lakh for the release of the two women and his taxi. However, he informed the police about the incident, who took swift action.
The two women were staying in a rented room in Siolim for the last two weeks. After the incident came to light, the police went to their room found it ransacked. It is believed that the five culprits were keeping track of the two women for some time, and it was a planned crime.
The arrested men have been identified as Ajay Kusbas, 39, from Arpora; Jeevan Pawar, 26, from Karwar; Nadeem Khan, 28, from Rajasthan; Trebor Joseph, 27, from Mumbai; and Kamesh Chowdhury, 21, from Hyderabad. The police also suspect the involvement of a woman in the whole operation but, till now, they haven’t been able to trace her.
1 Comment
And is not just these rape cases that is taking place in Goa, there have been may tourists deaths over the years. Murders and unsolved deaths and none of them do get investigated or solved and no one is ever prosecuted for these terrible crimes. This has been going on for years. I know this at first hand as I lost my nephew Felix Dahl on 28.01.2015 in Patnem in Goa.