In an incident reminiscent of the infamous Marine Drive rape case, Chandrakant Vitthal Pawar allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl
In an incident reminiscent of the infamous Marine Drive rape case, a head constable of the Sahar police station allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl late on Monday. The girl, living in a nearby slum, is a ragpicker.
Chandrakant Vitthal Pawar was arrested and produced in the 22nd metropolitan magistrate's court on Tuesday. He was remanded to police custody till October 25.
The victim has been sent to the Nagpada police hospital for a medical check-up while Pawar was tested for alcohol. On the basis of the girl's complaint a case has been registered against him under section 376(2) of the Indian Penal Code.
Pawar, who was on duty in an inebriated state near the Sahar Road taxi stand, took the girl to a lonely place and raped her, police said. Passers-by spotted him dragging the girl away later and caught him. Pawar tried to escape by offering Rs15,000, but the angry crowd handed him over to the police.
"This is a blot on the force," admitted Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Arup Patnaik. "We take full responsibility for the incident. Henceforth we will ensure that such incidents do not occur."
Pawar has a history of being irregular at work. He was also caught in an inebriated state at work many times. "He remained disturbed often," said one police officer.
Pawar's family locked their house at the Seven Bungalows police quarters in Andheri and left for their native place Satara at 8.30am on Tuesday. Pawar's colleagues said his second wife was the reason why he was disturbed and drank often. "He worried about his two children from his first wife," said one.
Pawar's neighbours confirmed that he was a habitual drinker, who picked fights with his wife and even abused his children, they said. One neighbour said, "We had hardly any interaction with his wife. She kept to herself. There were fights in the family, but we never bothered to find out the reason."
Eyewitness
Satyen Nair, an employee of the Airports Authority of India, saw the head constable dragging a ragpicker and raised the alarm. "I saw Pawar take her away from a spot near the police station," Nair said. "When I asked a few autowallahs, they said he took her to an isolated spot."
Seeing the cop's muddy uniform, Nair smelt a rat and cornered him. "He claimed he was taking the girl to her house. I asked him to come to the police station. He started fretting," Nair told DNA.
Nair said Pawar offered Rs15,000 and requested him to keep mum. But Nair took him to the police station. The victim told him that Pawar had raped her twice in the past hour.
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