South African rape victim to pursue case to its logical end

MUMBAI: Reshma Khan (name changed), the NRI model from South Africa who was allegedly drugged and raped by two men who picked her up from a pub near Santa Cruz airport, is determined to see them punished. While the incident has left Khan’s body bruised, it has awakened her fighting spirit.

“Now that I have made a police complaint and the matter has become public, I’ll see that it reaches its logical conclusion,” she told DNA in an exclusive interview at a friend’s residence in Lokhandwala Complex on Tuesday.

Dressed in black top and trousers and accompanied by another friend, Khan said she was grateful to the police for tracing and arresting the culprits within two days. “But I want them to be given such punishment that no one ever dares to commit such a heinous crime,” the angry young woman said.

“They must have already victimised so many girls,” she said. “I want their faces to be published in the papers so that others who fell prey to their lust can identify them.”

She revealed that her suspected rapists, Suresh Krishnani and Sunil Morpani, (who had given her a visiting card introducing himself as Aditya M) brought another girl to the hotel room in Kalyan where she was held for a day. “Krishnani introduced himself as Rahul and had sex with her in front of me,” she said. “I turned away in disgust.”

Khan has been in a disturbed state since the incident last week. “I can hardly sleep for more than an hour,” she said. “I wake up screaming. I feel as if people are touching me all over. I feel a lot of pain. I was beaten so badly by these hooligans that there are several bruises on my body.”

She has also lost her appetite. She even refused a cup of tea prepared by her friend during the interview. “When I go out and see men on the road I get scared and try not to walk close to them,” she said.

“I feel traumatised. I’ll be going to South Africa soon and getting myself admitted in hospital.” But that does not mean she will stop pursuing the case, she said. Her determination to see her tormentors “fixed” was clear throughout the interview.       While she was initially hesitant to talk, she soon opened up and spoke for almost 90 minutes.

Khan admitted to suicidal feelings over the past one week. “But my friends and lawyer Falguni Brahmabhatt stood by me like rocks,” she said. “They have given me all the courage to live.” Brahmabhatt joined Khan towards the fag end of the interview.

Talking about GS Bawa, owner of Bawa International hotel, she said, “A few days back I was having dinner at JW Marriott when Bawa came up to me and offered to help with my career. He said he finances movies. The second time I met him was that evening at Bawa where he had invited me for dinner. After dinner he sent me to Avalon where this tragedy was waiting to happen.”

She continued, “When I went to the loo, I told the bartender and bouncer to look after my drink. I don’t know what happened.”

She rubbished a report that the owner of Raj Mahal hotel in Kalyan, where she was taken, said she came up to the reception looking normal. “I was lifted out of the car to the lift,” she said.

She was furious about the reported statement of some senior police officers that she should not have gone to the pub alone or had drinks. “Girls who drink are not necessarily of loose character,” she snapped. “We drink to relax, not to get drunk. It does not give a guy the licence to rape.”

Reminiscing about her life in South Africa, Khan said she lost her mother and has a stepmother. “My father is one of the richest guys in South Africa with a chain of stores.

He has a small stake in a well-known cola company. He was also a sponsor of Temptation 2005, a Bollywood extravaganza by the Morani brothers. I met Shah Rukh Khan, Zayed Khan, and others there.”

Khan grew up in a sheltered environment. “I used to get up at 5am and go jogging followed by my bodyguard. When I went to a pub there were more than one bodyguard for my protection. I’m very fashion-conscious and people back home used to call me ‘Barbie doll’. My father even bought me a sports car on my birthday.”

So why did this richie-rich girl come to Mumbai to live in a one-room apartment and struggle to build a career? “My father did not like my idea of chasing a Bollywood dream,” she said. “I joined his business but got bored. So I walked out.”

She said she had always known India as a culturally rich country. “Mumbai for me was a safe city. The place I hail from, Durban, is perhaps the world’s most crime-infested place. But in Mumbai I can take an autorickshaw and move. People here are nice and open. I never knew such a tragedy will befall me one day.”

Khan’s father did call her up after the incident. “But I told him not to come as it would have created more publicity. He’s a well-known figure back home.”

Khan is a graduate in business management and a graphic artist. “I know seven languages. I could understand a little Hindi, which the culprits were using thinking I don’t understand the language,” she said.

Despite her nightmarish experience, Khan will not give up on her Bollywood dream. “Even if I go to South Africa, I’ll come back,” she said.