Man booked for raping, blackmailing Maharashtra college student

Palghar, October 16

A man from Maharashtra’s Palghar district had been booked for allegedly raping a 23-year-old college student on several occasions and blackmailing her, police said on Wednesday.

The woman in her police complaint said Haitik Bharat Shah (age not specified), a resident of Dahanu area who was studying at another institution, raped her first at a resort in Goa where she went for a college picnic earlier this year, a police spokesperson said.

He also clicked some pictures with her and threatened to post them on social media if she refused to have physical relations with him, the official said.

Later, he kept on blackmailing the woman over the pictures and allegedly raped her on several occasions, he said.

The woman also alleged that the accused forced her to sign some documents, including marriage registration papers, the official said.

He recently uploaded a photograph of both of them as his WhatsApp profile picture and when the woman asked him to remove it, he demanded Rs 25 lakh from her, he said.

The woman approached the police on Tuesday following which a case was registered against the accused under Sections 376 (rape), 417 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

No arrest had been made so far, he added. PTI