05, Jan 2016

Jan 06 2016 : The Times of India (Ahmedabad)
Rajkot
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Van Driver, His Friend Arrested After Survivor Files Complaint
Saurashtra’s commercial capital was reminded of the ghastly 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape when a 22-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in a moving school van for an hour on Sunday night.
Police arrested two per sons -Ramesh alias Amit Ahir and Bhavesh Bharvad -for the crime following the complaint lodged by the rape survivor. Ramesh was the friend of Gopal Bharvad, the van driver who used to pick up and drop the woman’s niece to school daily, and used to accompany him many times.
The duo allegedly kidnapped the woman at around midnight from her house in Nana Mava and Nana Mava and Ramesh allegedly raped her even as Bharvad drove the van in and around Nana Mava on the city’s outskirts.
“At around 12 am, I heard someone knocking the door. I opened the door thinking that my family members who had gone out have returned. But I saw shocked to see Ramesh standing outside. He was the friend of school van driver Gopal and used to accompany him many times when he came to pick up my niece for school. He dragged me from the house and forced me inside the van,“ the woman’s complaint states.
The crime has raised questions about adequate police patrolling in and around Rajkot where crime graph is increasing by the day.
Ramesh also stuffed her mouth with a piece of cloth so that she couldn’t shout for help from the vehicle. After raping her, they dropped the woman near Alay Park close to her house. The family members, who were searching for her, spotted her.
“They drove the vehicle on deserted roads near Nana Mava. Ramesh works in a car service station while Bhavesh runs a school van,” M M Jadeja, police inspector, women’s police station, told TOI.