Five persons were arrested in Thane and Palghar districts in Maharashtra for allegedly raping woman on the false pretext of getting rid of “evil spells” through “black magic”, reports PTI.
Police on Sunday said that five accused are the 35-year-old woman’s husband’s friends. They are identified as Ravindra Bhate, Dileep Gaikwad, Gaurav Salvi, Mahendra Kumavat and Ganesh Kadam.
They allegedly told the woman that some “evil spell” had been cast on her husband and to regain peace she would have to be part of some rituals.
The accused then started visiting her home from April 2018 and allegedly conducted rituals when she was alone at her home. They would give her a spiked drink calling it ‘panchamrit’ and would rape her. The accused also took gold and money from her claiming it was for various rituals that would ensure peace and prosperity and a stable government job for her husband, an official said.
She was raped in 2019 in Yeoor forest in Thane, then in a mutt of the main accused in Kandivali, in a resort in Lonavala. They took Rs 2.10 lakh as well as gold from her.
The incident came to the fore after the rape survivor from Talasari, which is a tribal-dominated area in the district, filed a police complaint on September 11.
Palghar Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil, in an official release, said the five have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape) 376(2)(n) (offence of committing rape repeatedly on the same woman) 420 (cheating). The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act 2013 has also been invoked, he said.