Team Herald
PANJIM: A Kashmiri youth was arrested on Saturday for allegedly raping a Canadian woman at Arambol beach late Thursday night.
Police identified the accused as Elin Dorji after the victim filed a complaint at Pernem police station accusing him of threatening, assaulting and raping her under the influence of alcohol.
According to the complaint lodged on Friday, the Kashmiri lad developed a friendship with the woman and thereafter took her to various places at Pernem before committing the crime. Dorji has been remanded to police custody till December 22 for custodial interrogation.
The woman, who landed in Goa on December 14, had stayed at Calangute before shifting to a resort at Pernem. In her complaint, she said that the accused introduced himself as Elin from North India and said he was a trekking guide on vacation in Goa.
The accused initially took the victim to his friend’s restaurant, close to Café Ave Maria 99, People’s Restaurant family cafe. Here the duo had beer and lunch, and she was introduced to the alleged accused’s friends whose names she does not remember.
“Thereafter we played more frisbees, and then he (accused) told me about drum circle in the evening, so I went back to my hotel and then back to the restaurant. At that time he was making dream catches and there was another foreigner from France, I do not remember the name,” she stated.
The accused and the victim then went to the drum circle at Arambol beach and later to the market stall. She recalled that at 9pm on Thursday, they went to Mama Café where he had a beer and she ordered for ‘orange Fanta’.
“Thereafter we both left from Mama Café at around 9.15pm. He took one more beer and we walked on the beach. After walking a distance we reached a dark spot before Café Ave Maria 99 where Elin suddenly attacked me and said he wanted to have sex with me,” she added in the one-page complaint copy.
The accused threatened her of dire consequences if she raised an alarm. She was slapped, punched on her face and raped. “He assaulted when I tried to resist,” she stated.
The rape survivor managed to escape from the spot and met a woman, who helped her book a taxi from where they rushed to the hospital. The victim was examined at three hospitals at Pernem, Mapusa and reportedly GMC.
Pernem police have registered a case under Sections 376 for rape, 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) and 506 (ii) (threatening with dire consequences) of the India Penal Code.
