A 58-year-old woman returning home after offering prayers at the Mahim Church was allegedly gangraped and assaulted by two unidentified accused near Santa Cruz railway station on the night of October 2. The woman is presently being treated for her injuries at a hospital. Meanwhile, the Bandra government railway police (GRP) is looking for the accused based on a description provided by the ailing victim. According to the Bandra GRP, the incident took place late in the night on October 2 at a secluded location near Santa Cruz railway station on the eastern side, which falls under their jurisdiction. The victim lives with her daughter in the northern suburbs and is the sole breadwinner of her family. She was depressed and had gone to the Mahim Church to find some peace of mind. “While returning home, she had consumed liquor due to which she is unable to narrate the exact sequence of events. However, she has given us a detailed version of the incident, which cannot be divulged. She took a local train from Mahim railway station to reach her residence, but the two accused stopped her at Santa Cruz railway station and took her to the undisclosed location where they assaulted and raped her,” said an investigating official. The victim somehow managed to reach home and the next day i.e. on October 3, approached a police station in Goregaon. The police immediately registered a case of gangrape and transferred it to the Bandra GRP as the crime took place in their jurisdiction. Police inspector Pradip Padavi of Bandra GRP said, “A case of gangrape and assault has been registered. We are going through the CCTV footage to see if the accused can be spotted. The victim is hospitalised and we don’t want to trouble her. We are waiting for her condition to improve after which we will question her again.”
