Thane: A 49-year-old man accused of raping a widow over eight years under the pretext of marriage and cheating her of Rs 5 lakh was acquitted by additional sessions judge D S Deshmukh as the prosecution failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.In 2022, Kapurbawadi police booked the man for allegedly raping, cheating and threatening the woman between July 2012 and March 2020. The woman alleged he exploited her sexually while extracting money, including Rs 60,000 for his wife’s sarpanch poll campaign. When he began avoiding her in 2022, she filed a complaint. The judge noted that the woman’s testimony suggested they were in a consensual live-in relationship and asked why she waited for 10 years to report the alleged crimes if they were indeed against her will. tnn
