Two men have been arrested in Maharashtra’s Palghar district for raping and intimidating a 20-year-old woman on the pretext of performing magic tricks to cure her of a “black magic spell” cast on her, the police have said.
The complainant in the case told the police that she was raped on February 26 in a chawl in Nalasopara (East) in Vasai taluka in the Palghar district. She said the two men told her she has been suffering because of a black magic spell cast on her by someone. The woman, who was going through some personal crisis in her life, believed them and agreed to follow their instructions.
On the pretext of curing her of the spell, the accused told her that they were performing some magic tricks and raped her. They later threatened her to keep quiet about the assault. The woman, however, approached the Palghar police station and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 376 (D) and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and criminal intimidation.
A police team rushed to the spot but the men had fled. They were later arrested on February 27. They have been identified as Maulana Rajab Shaikh, 27, and Shahabuddin Shaikh, 50. “We suspect the accused may have sexually assaulted other women using the same modus operandi. Our probe is on to find out if there are more women victimised by them using the same modus operandi,” said a police official.