Panaji: The gang-rape of two women tourists from Delhi in Goa has prompted the police in the western Indian state to plan an advisory to save the public from conmen.
“Definitely, I request all people to be careful of fake policemen. Please ask for the identity card of policemen if they approach you,” Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg said Friday.
The Goa police had issued an advisory to the public in 2013 when the first case of criminals posing as police personnel was reported. The menace has continued unabated since then.
The earlier advisory asked people to be more careful about persons who claim to be policemen. “Ask for their identification as soon as they approach you. Do not interact with any person who poses as a policeman, especially if the said person is in civil clothes,” the 2013 advisory said.
However, on June 2 police arrested five people who posed as policemen and then abducted two young women tourists from Delhi who were holidaying at a popular beach stretch in Goa. They beat the women and sexually assaulted them repeatedly.
Earlier crimes by fake policemen were limited to snatching of gold or money. The June 1 gang-rape is the first reported instance of sexual violence by such a gang in Goa in recent times, The Hindustan Times reported.
Meanwhile the two gang-raped women made disturbing revelations in their statements to the police on Thursday.
The women, aged 34 and 28, were allegedly abducted on Monday night in Goa by men posing as officers from the Crime Investigation Department and the narcotics department. They were held captive and sexually assaulted for over 18 hours, before the Goa police rescued them a day later.
They were stripped and forced to hold drugs before their videos were shot, according to a statement by one of them.
“They beat us and offered us alcohol and drugs instead of food. They stripped us, made us hold drugs and shot videos of us,” the 34-year-old woman claimed. “Apart from the men there was also a woman with them. She claimed to be from the police too. She undressed me saying that she wanted to check me. They kept accusing us of being in the dancing business,” she added.
In her statement, the woman stated that they were first taken to a secluded house, where they were robbed, and later transferred to an apartment where they were repeatedly raped by the five men.
“They intercepted our car while we were on our way to Baga beach. They pulled out the driver of our taxi and thrashed him. One of the accused then drove us to a secluded house. Four others followed us on scooters. They also took our phones, ATM cards and pin numbers, and withdrew 10,000 rupees from the driver’s account and 30,000 rupees from our accounts,” the statement read.
“When we resisted, they physically assaulted and threatened to kill us. They then took turns to sexually assault me and my friend, and did not stop till I began bleeding,” the 34-year-old stated.
They were rescued at 3pm on Tuesday by the Goa police after it received a tip-off from the driver who was let-off the previous night. “We raided the house, based on the driver’s statement, but could not find anyone. Several teams then swung into action to trace the women. They were then traced to the flat and rescued. The five accused were also arrested,” police added.
A medical examination of the women was conducted that proved rape and their detailed statement was also recorded. The accused had reportedly been stalking and observing them for over three days, police said.