’Pathak threatened to rape me in public’

Reveals the girl who was molested minutes after the scuffle with youths at Malad; cops let off prime accused with a meagre fine of Rs 1,200

'Pathak threatened to rape me in public'

Reveals the girl who was molested minutes afteru00a0u00a0the scuffle with youths at Malad; cops let off u00a0prime accused with a meagre fine of Rs 1,200

Uday Pathak, prime accused in the gruesome quadruple Kurar murder case, allegedly molested and assaulted two girls, minutes after being embroiled in a scuffle with the youths whom he would later kill, at Shivaji Nagar in Malad (East).

Roshni Sharma and Sangeeta Pathak

In an exclusive interview with MiD DAY, the two girls revealed that on Saturday, Pathak threatened to rape one of them in public view, following which they approached the police. However, the cops let off Pathak after extracting a meagre fine of Rs 1,200 from him.

The two girls, Roshni Sharma (18) and Sangeeta Pathak (18), (names changed) are residents of Shivaji Nagar and worked at an imitation jewellery unit in the area.

On Saturday, when they were returning to work after the lunch-break, they crossed the path of Pathak and his accomplices, who were consuming alcohol in broad daylight on the roadside.

The thugs accosted them and soon started passing lewd and offensive remarks. "They said, 'Kahan jaa rahi hai, kya baat hai aaj kal milti nahi'. However, we did not pay any heed to their comments, and proceeded to work," said Roshni.

Roshni disclosed that on December 3 last year, a friend Gargi had introduced her to Pathak at a fair in the BMC garden in the locality. "We had become friends, and later on were romantically involved for the duration of over a month. He had even promised to marry me.
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In February earlier this year, Pathak invited me to one of his vacant flats, and after spiking my drink, raped me. I was stricken, even went to the police to lodge a complaint. But I was turned away," said Roshni, adding that her employer had fired her, after discovering that she was indirectly linked to the Kurar murder case.

Roshni further disclosed that she had stopped seeing Pathak after he deceived her. However, he would accost her regularly on her way to work, and pass unsavoury comments.

"On Saturday evening Sangeeta and I were on our way to the mobile repair shop, when we heard that Pathak had been involved in a violent scuffle with some locals in the area.

Crime Branch arrested five accused who were present at the scene of the crime. They were identified as Vaibhav Chauhan (23), an AC mechanic, Bholu Chaubey (22), who works at Malad station, Amit Soni (23), who works at Film City as a peon, Hemant Gupta (28), who has a cutlery shop in Kurar and Rashmikanth Khatri (22), who works at Dahisar check naka

We were walking towards the shop when Pathak grabbed my arm, and started using abusive language. Fuming after I pulled my hand away, he threatened to avenge the insult by raping me in public view," added Roshni.

"He told his accomplice Vicky to grab me and beat me up. When I questioned him about the reason behind the assault, he abused us again," said Sangeeta. Roshni's threats to take the matter to the police had no effect on the man.

Roshni then ran to the police station, but claims that she was shooed away by the police.

"The police did not act on my complaint. When I told them to lodge an FIR they refused to do so. When I insisted, they called Pathak to the police station.
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The police officers also abused me and he threatened me again in front of them, but the cops just fined him and set him free," said Roshni.