CALANGUTE: Two woman tourists from Delhi were kidnapped, brutally assaulted, sexually abused and ransom demanded by a gang of five individuals impersonating as the sleuths of Crime Branch and Anti-Narcotics Cell of Goa police.
According to police, the incident reportedly took place on Monday evening when the complainant Abhijit Kochrekar, a taxi driver from Siolim, was transporting the two Delhi tourists from Anjuna to Calangute. At around 8.30 pm at Arpora, five individuals followed them on motorcycles, who posing as sleuths of Crime branch and anti-narcotics cell, restrained the two girls.
The gang of five assaulted the girls and took them to a resort in Calangute. Two of the accused accompanied them in the taxi, while the other three followed them on their two wheelers.
The accused also confiscated the cell phones and ATM cards of the taxi driver and the victim girls.
On reaching the resort, the accused demanded Rs 1.5 lakh as ransom from the taxi driver for freeing the victim girls the next day. On Tuesday, the accused once again phoned up the taxi driver for money. The driver, fearing for his life, approached the Anjuna police and filed a complaint.
Following the complaint, Calangute Police Inspector Nilesh Rane, Anjuna PI Tushar Lotlikar and Mapusa PI Tushar Vernekar, in a joint operation, laid a trap and nabbed the accused. The victim girls were also rescued. The joint operation was supervised by Deputy Superintendent of Police Mahesh Gaonkar.
The arrested persons are identified as: Ajay Kusbas (39) of Arpora, Jeevan Pawar (26) of Karwar, Nadeem Khan (28) of Rajasthan, Trevor Joseph (27) of Mumbai and Kamlesh Chowdhury (21) of Hyderabad.
Police have registered an offence under section 342, 170, 323, 324, 364A and 395 of IPC. The rescued girls were sent for medical examination.
