Bhopal, Feb 13: A 21-year-old woman from Delhi was allegedly raped by a pantry manager in Karnataka on Friday Sampark Kranti Express, when protested, he threatened to throw her down from the moving train and to kill her if she spoke to anyone about it. The victim was traveling 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 stopped Bhopal. It was around midnight and the police took all 14 pantry workers into custody except the suspect, who had secretly left by the time they arrived.
The pantry manager was arrested on Saturday in Jhansi, 330 km away. Police have identified him as 30-year-old Bhupendra Tomar, a resident of Porsa, MP.
The survivor is in medical care. She said in her complaint that she had gone to Mumbai in search of work three days ago, but changed her mind and decided to return to her parents in Delhi.
Bhopal GRP SHO Dinesh Singh Chauhan said that according to her statement, she took a train from Mumbai to Bhusaval, from where she boarded the Sampark Kranti Express going to Delhi in the evening. She admitted that she was traveling without a ticket and tried to spend the night outside an AC compartment.
At around 8.30, a man in a blue shirt asked him to go to the general compartment. 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 to a store room in the pantry car where he raped her,” Chauhan said.
After the attack, the survivor went to the next coach to seek help. A group of them went to the pantry car, but found that the employees had locked themselves inside. Passengers were guarding the door so that no one could escape. When the train reached Bhopal station, the police boarded it and took the woman into its custody.
All 14 people in the pantry car were taken into custody but the pantry manager was missing. The police went after him. A few hours later, the suspect Tomar was arrested in Jhansi and brought to Bhopal.
