Representative image where the words 'stop rape' can be seen
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Bengaluru: A 21-year-old nursing graduate was allegedly raped by a PG owner after she was caught stealing jewellery from fellow roomers.
The incident occurred in Mico Layout, South Bengaluru, on June 21.
Police arrested the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Ravi Teja Reddy, after the woman filed a complaint.
Police investigations show that Reddy, who has run the PG facility for a decade without prior complaints, took advantage of the woman after she fell at his feet and begged him not to "expose" her.
The woman had moved into a fifth-floor room on June 15. Five days later, two other residents from the same floor reported that two diamond rings and a gold ring had gone missing.
Before the theft, the woman had allegedly disconnected the CCTV wires on the fifth floor.
Reddy summoned all the women in the PG and warned he would approach the police if the rings were not returned. He also said he would check the CCTV footage.
Afraid of getting caught, the woman left one ring in a room on the fifth floor and gave the other two to a friend living nearby. She later asked another roomer whether CCTV cameras would still work if their wires were disconnected. The roomer informed Reddy.
On June 21, confronted by Reddy, the woman showed where she had hidden one of the rings.
"The resident of that room became furious and slapped her. She felt that the recovery of the ring in her room would have made her the villain," a police officer close to the investigation told DH.
Anticipating further assaults, Reddy locked up the woman in a room, saying he would question her. He then video-called the woman whose stolen rings had been hidden outside the PG. He handed the phone to the survivor and asked her to direct them to the place where those rings were hidden.
"Once the rings were found, he hung up. The woman then fell at his feet and pleaded with him to let her go. However, Reddy saw an opportunity and raped her," the officer said.
The woman later called the police helpline (112). When a Hoysala patrol car arrived, she contacted her boyfriend in Tumakuru. At her request, police spoke to him and reassured him that she was not a thief and that no case had been filed against her.
On June 22, she went to the Mico Layout police station and again asked the police to speak to her boyfriend. But he ignored her.
The woman later travelled to Tumakuru and told her boyfriend that Reddy had raped her and used the theft incident to cover it up. She later underwent a medical examination at a hospital in Jayanagar. The hospital filed a Medico-Legal Case (MLC), based on which the police registered a rape FIR.