Pune: Police on Friday arrested a 35-year-old stationery shop owner from Daund taluka on the charge of raping a woman (32) at gunpoint after offering her a lift in his car while she was looking for transport near Kurkumbh on the Pune-Solapur highway on March 25.Deputy Superintendent of Police (Pune Rural) Bapuraa Dadas told TOI, “We have arrested the suspect based on the survivor’s complaint that he raped her at gunpoint. However, we are yet to recover the firearm alleged to have been used by the suspect.”A case of rape under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Atrocities Act has been registered with the Daund police. A local court has ordered the shopowner’s remand in police custody till March 31.Dadas, who is investigating the case, said that on March 25, the woman, who lives in Indapur taluka, found out that her brother was harassing their mother, who stays in Pimpri Chinchwad. “She reached Kurkumbh in a pick-up vehicle and was standing near the bridge along the Pune-Solapur highway, asking for a lift to go to Pimpri Chinchwad,” Dadas said.The officer said the suspect, who was in his car, told the woman that he would drop her to Pimpri Chinchwad as he was going to Pune.The survivor said in her complaint that after driving about 3km, the shopowner stopped the car at a secluded spot and tried to overpower her. When she resisted, he pulled out a firearm and threatened to kill her. He then dragged her out of the car and raped her, the complaint stated. “The woman also stated in her complaint that the accused beat her and threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone,” the officer said.Dadas said that after the accused left the spot, the woman managed to return to her home in Indapur taluka. She approached the police the next day and lodged a complaint. “She had noted down the car’s registration number. We traced and arrested the accused with the help of the number,” Dadas said.
