Fake cop held for duping rape victim

Mumbai, Mar 14: A 42-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly posing as a policeman and duping a rape victim of Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of registering a case, a senior official said.

The accused, Uttam Horambare, was arrested a few days ago based on a complaint filed by the woman at Shivaji Nagar police station.

The victim told the police that she had got married in 2007, after which she moved to suburban Andheri.

"In the complaint, the victim said that her relative raped her multiple times since 2013 by threatening to reveal her pictures, which he had clicked secretly. In 2017, she moved to suburban Govandi. However, the accused continued to blackmail and sexually harass her," the official said.

Fed up, the woman approached an NGO activist identified as Nafisa, to seek her help in lodging a case against the accused.

"Nafisa took the victim to Horambare, who posed as a policeman and demanded money to register a case against her relative. They used to meet outside a police station and many times, a relative of Horambare used to accompany him," police said.

The victim told the police that she paid about Rs 6 lakh to Horambare for the purpose of registering a case.

However, he kept delaying it by giving some reason or the other, the official said.

"The victim finally realised that she was being cheated by Horambare, his relative and Nafisa," he said.

She filed a complaint last week and acting on it, the police arrested Horambare a few days ago. Efforts are on to nab the other two, police said, adding that a probe into the case is on.