7 women lured with “magic app” and raped – Police in MP area Sidhi uncover fraud, arrest 4

Apart from Prajapati, three other accused – Luv Kush Prajapati, Rahul Prajapati and Sandeep Prajapati – were also arrested.

Five separate FIRs were filed under IPC sections 376 (punishment for rape, which includes a strict prison sentence), 366 (abduction or abduction of a woman), 394 (intentional bodily harm in the commission of a robbery), in addition relevant sections of the POCSO Act.

Speaking to ThePrint, Sidhi Police Commissioner Dr Ravindra Verma said, “We are naming Brijesh Prajapati as the main accused as he is responsible for the rapes and looting. The other three helped him by establishing contacts and then disposing of stolen mobile phones. All four accused are related and belong to the same family.”

The case came to light on May 16, when a tribal woman called the Sidhi Majhouli police station and reported that she had been raped after being tricked by a caller who posed as a faculty member of the Sanjay Gandhi Smarti Government PG College and offered her a scholarship.

According to police, the victims were contacted by a person posing as a woman who offered them face-to-face meetings to discuss scholarships. They were told that a man would greet them and direct them to the alleged professor.

Believing they would receive scholarships, the women set out to meet the caller, but the accused then took them to a remote location and raped them. The women were also robbed and had their mobile phones snatched to ensure they did not call for help.

Speaking to the media, Inspector General of Police (Rewa range) Mahendra Singh Sikharwar said, “The accused used an app called ‘Magic App’ and modulated his voice into that of a woman and posed as a professor of Sanjay Gandhi College. After convincing the women, they went there and were raped.”

SP Verma said the accused came to know about the ‘Magic App’ for voice manipulation through YouTube and initially used it for fun before he started luring women.

After registering five separate FIRs, the police assumed that there was more than one accused. Later, it emerged that there was a group of four accused. “One of the four studied at the same college (Sanjay Gandhi College) about a year ago. He was part of a WhatsApp group that included women. He randomly selected numbers and contacted them,” Sikarwar added.

A clear clue that led to the suspects was the discovery that the main accused had suffered burns on his hands. According to the police, Prajapati, a labourer who claimed to have worked in Pune, Nagpur and Jabalpur, had burnt both his hands while working in a steel factory in Jabalpur.

Police said the perpetrators made sure they used different mobile phones and SIM cards to call every new victimSo far, 16 of the defendants’ mobile phones have been confiscated.

(Edited by Richa Mishra)

Also read: 5 arrested for gang rape of 15-year-old girl on her way back from tutoring in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol

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