After she became pregnant, the accused reneged from his marriage promise and refused to take responsibility for her and her child.
Nitin Thakre, senior inspector of Panvel city, said, “On July 9, the victim woman, who is a college student and resides in Mankhurd, lodged a complaint at Panvel city police station alleging that the accused Anuj Vedak had befriended her on ‘Happen Dating App’ in August 2022. On August 11, Vedak called her to Panvel to meet him and took her to Vrundavan lodge in Panvel where he promised to marry her and forcibly established sexual relationship. The next day, he took her to a lodge in Lonavala for three days when he again forcibly had sex with her by assuring to marry her, the complainant has alleged. We immediately registered a rape case against the accused Vedak and launched a manhunt for Vedak.”
Inspector Thakre said the probe revealed that Vedak’s native place was Dapoli, Ratnagiri but he was working at Saanvi Marbles shop in Chakan, Pune.
“Our police team reached his location and arrested him. Vedak confessed to have forcibly had sexual relationship with the complainant woman at the lodges in Panvel and Lonavala in August last year. Hence, we gathered evidence from the two lodges and did a panchnama. Thereafter, medical tests of the accused and complainant were done as part of the investigation. We have even sent DNA samples of the accused Vedak and the complainant woman’s child and sent them to Kalina Forensic laboratory to ensure that Vedak is the child’s biological father, which will be vital evidence in court to prove Vedak guilty for his crime. Our police team gathered all evidence in four days and we promptly filed a chargesheet in Panvel court in four days.”
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault.)
