BHOPAL: A 21-year-old woman from Delhi was allegedly raped on Friday by a pantry manager of Karnataka Sampark Kranti Express after he threatened to throw her off the running train if she resisted and kill her if she spoke to anyone about it. The survivor was travelling without a ticket.
As soon as the suspect let her go, the woman ran to some fellow passengers, who then informed the police. The train was halted in Bhopal around midnight and the police detained all 14 pantry staff except the suspect, who had sneaked out by the time they arrived.
The pantry manager was arrested in Jhansi, 330km away, on Saturday. The police identified him as Bhupendra Tomar, 30, of Porsa in MP’s Morena district.
The survivor is under medical care. She had gone to Mumbai to look for work three days ago but changed her mind and decided to return to her parents in Delhi, she said in her complaint.
According to her statement, she took a train from Mumbai to Bhusawal, from where she boarded the Delhi-bound Sampark Kranti Express in the evening, Bhopal GRP SHO Dinesh Singh Chouhan said. She admitted she was travelling without a ticket and tried to spend the night outside an AC compartment.
Around 8.30pm, a man in a blue shirt told her to go to one of the general compartments. He forcibly took her along, but stopped near the pantry car and told her that she could sleep near its gate. “The accused grabbed her and dragged her into a storeroom in the pantry car where he raped her,” said Chouhan.
After the assault, the survivor went into the next coach to seek help. A group of them went to the pantry car, but found that the staff had locked themselves in. Passengers stood guard at the door to ensure no one escaped. When the train pulled into Bhopal station, police boarded it and took the woman into their care.
All 14 men in the pantry car were detained but the pantry manager was missing. The cops went after him. A few hours later, suspect Tomar was rounded up in Jhansi and brought to Bhopal.