MUMBAI: The city crime branch on Monday arrested a tourist guide, Rakesh Neelkant Nandi (27), for allegedly raping an Italian woman in an aggregator cab. The 37-year-old woman has said the incident took place when the guide and she took the cab from Juhu to Colaba on June 14. Nandi, a Panvel resident, was picked up on Monday after the police managed to track down the driver in whose cab the alleged incident took place.
After the driver provided the police with the contact details that were used to book his cab, the police traced Nandi to Colaba where he was guiding some tourists. Nandi, a registered guide, used to earlier live in Ambedkar Nagar in Colaba.
"We do not have much information about Nandi yet but we have picked him up and he has confessed to the crime. We are interrogating him to know if he has done this to other tourists too," said a police officer.
The breakthrough came after the police tracked down the aggregator cab driver on Sunday and recorded his statement. "The driver has claimed that he saw the man trying to get the woman to drink alcohol on the way. Other than this, he claims to know nothing that went on on the backseat. He has also said he did not know the person who booked the cab was a tourist guide. According to him, the duo took the car from Juhu for Colaba. Midway, the driver was asked to stop near a wine shop," said an officer from Juhu police station.
According to the woman’s complaint, the guide convinced her to accompany him so that he could show her more tourist spots, including a Bollywood actor’s bungalow. She said that on the way back to hotel, he sexually assaulted her. After the incident, the victim left for Bengaluru and then went to Delhi, where she got in touch with the Italian embassy. She then returned to Mumbai and lodged a complaint at Colaba police station on June 29. The case was transferred to Juhu police station the next day as the crime “started” there. The accused will be handed over to the Juhu police on Wednesday.
Aspokesperson for the cab aggregator said: “We are cooperating with the police. The driver has provided details about the man who had booked the cab.” Nandi has has been booked under Section 376 (2) of IPC.
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