Face hidden in sex video, but tattoo on hand nails rapist

MUMBAI: A tattoo on the hand of a 31-year-old hospital employee has ensured that he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years rigorous imprisonment for drugging, raping and filming his married colleague on the pretext of taking her to another hospital for a job opportunity in 2015.
The accused claimed innocence on the grounds that the face of the person was not visible in the video showing the sexual assault.
“Tattoo mark of ‘SB’ with symbol of heart and arrow is seen on the hand of person making video. After the incident the accused was immediately referred for medical examination. At that time the medical officer noted the tattoo mark on left hand of accused,” special judge Sanjashree J Gharat said.
During the trial the accused tried to hide the tattoo. The accused attempted to emboss a crown in place of the earlier tattoo. The court found the accused guilty for offences relating to rape, unnatural sexual offences, administering intoxicants with an intention to commit an offence, extortion and under the Information Technology Act.
“The availability of video in his (accused) mobile, the availability of same tattoo mark on the thumb of person making video, his presence with the complainant at the time of commission of offence is strong incriminating evidence against him…After watching the video it supports the evidence of complainant. In the video the complainant is seen lying idle, disoriented and accused is seen committing a heinous act..,” the judge said.
The victim told the court that the sexual assault took place on August 5, 2015. She said that later the accused had threatened to send the video of the rape to her husband and relatives and demanded Rs 10,000. The survivor also said that he repeatedly called and threatened her.
The accused claimed that the relationship was consensual and the woman falsely implicated him after her husband found out about the affair.