A 58-year-old self-styled godman has been arrested in Mumbai for raping a woman in the name of rituals. As per the police report, the accused had allegedly raped the victim several times since 2019 when she was a minor.
The police started the investigation on the basis of the statement of the victim. The family of the victim came in contact with the self-styled godman named Suresh Kumar Ravindra Narayan Awasthi after some acquaintances introduced them.
An official said, “On the pretext of rituals, he raped the victim several times since 2019 (when she was a minor), clicked objectionable photographs of her and continued to sexually attack her by threatening to upload these pictures on the internet.”
When the victim told her parents, they reached out to the police and filed a complaint.
The accused was arrested under the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act provisions on Sunday.