Man arrested for raping and blackmailing a woman

Kharghar police are on the hunt for a 31-year-old man accused of raping a 37-year-old married woman after blackmailing her with compromising pictures. The accused, a resident of Sarsole village in Nerul, befriended the victim in December last year. The woman, who works in a finance firm in Kharghar that provides loans, met the accused through his dealings with the company.

Their friendship developed into frequent meetings outside of working hours. The accused took advantage of this closeness to take compromising photos with which he tried to force the victim into physical intimacy. When she tried to end the relationship, he threatened to publish their meetings and distributed the intimate photos to her husband and relatives.

A police officer said: “The woman got fed up with the harassment and refused to meet him. This made the accused angry and he posted her intimate photos on the Internet and sent them to her husband and relatives. He went into hiding and we started the hunt.”