Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

MAN RAPES 7 WOMEN ON PRETEXT OF PROVIDING SCHOLARSHI­PS,ARRESTED

- Shruti Tomar letters@hindustant­imes.com

BHOPAL: A man has been arrested in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh for allegedly raping at least seven women by luring them to meet his accomplice­s after he used a mobile applicatio­n to alter his voice to that of a woman, officials said on Saturday.

The elaborate crime came to light after one of the victims filed a complaint at the Majhauli police station on May 20, against an unknown man and three of his accomplice­s. The victims were from the Scheduled Tribes community and were targeted by the accused, who pretended to be a college principal offering scholarshi­ps.The police on Thursday have arrested the main accused, Brajesh Prajapati, 30, and his three accomplice­s — Rahul Prajapati, 24, Luvkush Prajapati, 23 and Sandeep Prajapati, 21 — under the charges of rape, wrongful confinemen­t and voluntaril­y causing hurt.

Rewa range inspector general of police Mahendra Singh Sikarwar said, “Four accused have been arrested in the case.”

Giving details of the crime, senior police officers said that Brajesh accessed contact numbers of the women from the ST community through college WhatsApp groups. He would then call the women using an applicatio­n to alter his voice and pretending to be a female teacher. Once the women reached the location he asked them to visit, Brajesh would rape them, and threaten them against complainin­g, the officer said.

“Brajesh Prajapati, who is a labourer, and Sandeep Prajapati accessed the contact numbers of students through college WhatsApp groups.

The main accused used to call the girl students by altering his voice with

Magic Voice mobile applicatio­n and pretend to be “Ranjana Ma’am” the principal of a government college,” the IG said.

Sikarwar said Brajesh would tell the targets that their signatures were required immediatel­y to release their scholarshi­ps. “He would tell them his son would pick them up. Instead, Rahul, Sandeep and Luvkush would pick the girls from their houses and take them to the location Brajesh picked,” the IG said.

Once at the spot, Brajesh raped the women, “snatched their mobile phones and threatened them with dire consequenc­es”, the IG said. He said that the accused has confessed to the crime and reportedly told them that he wanted to have sexual intercours­e with as many women as possible. After the first case was filed against him on May 20, the police initiated an investigat­ion, following which Brajesh was arrested and confessed to have raped seven girls in just the past three months.

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