Man dupes, rapes 2 minors

The Tulinj police has arrested a repeat offender in Nala Sopara for allegedly raping and cheating two minor girls, who aspired to be models.

The accused, Sandip alias Rinku Yadav (25), had created a fake Facebook account where he masquerading as a girl and befriended the complainants by promising them a modeling career.

Yadav allegedly took the girls to an Arnala resort where he spiked their drinks, raped them and filmed the acts. He also allegedly threatened to make the videos public, if the complainants did pay him. However, a 16-year-old friend of one of the girls, on hearing her plight, approached the Tulinj police and, as part of its trap, reached out to Yadav on Facebook, posing as a client. Yadav fell for it and was arrested. The superintendent of police, Palghar will honour all three minors for their display of courage.

According to PI Prakash Birajdar, Yadav, a resident of Santosh Bhuvan, created a fake Facebook profile in the name of ‘Pragya Yadav’ and assured the victims that ‘her boss’ could offer them modeling assignments and provided them a phone number. When the girls contacted Yadav, the latter demanded Rs 45,000 for creating their portfolios. The girls said they could not afford the fee, but offered to give their documents, said Mr Birajdar. Yadav then told the girls to meet ‘the boss’ in connection with the assignments and later took them to the resorts, the police said.

“Yadav would take the girls in turns to an Arnala and Kalam resort, in Vasai, in his car, under the pretext of clicking photos for their portfolios. He would book a room, where he would spike their drinks, rape the girls and film the act. When the girls regained consciousness, they were shocked to see themselves in the nude, and a leering Yadav threatening to making their videos public if they didn’t pay Rs 45,000 as his ‘price’,” said PI Birajdar.

However, a pro-active friend of one of the complainants decided to trap Yadav after her friend told her about her ordeal, and sent him a friend request. “The latter fell for it, and, as the minor had informed us beforehand, we were lying in wait for him. We arrested him for rape, molestation, cheating, extortion and under other Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act 2000,” said PI Birajdar.

The accused, when produced before the Vasai court on Wednesday, was remanded to police custody, said the official.

The accused has a history of molestation and creating fake Facebook accounts and a host of girls were his friends, said PI Birajdar.

Meanwhile, Sharda Raut, SP, Palghar will honour the trio for coming forward to complain against Yadav. “It should be appreciated that the minors came forward to help us to nail the accused,” said Mr Raut.