Botad: In a shocking incident a man raped and robbed a 75-year-old woman here on the pretext of helping her to get widow pension, said police on Friday.
The police said that the man, identified as Hasmukh Devipujak, took the senior citizen to a deserted place where he raped her and then fled away with her ornaments.
The Botad police used technical surveillance of the man’s mobile phone number and within 24 hours arrested him.
Police Inspector J.V. Chaudhary said, “The victim Ramilaben (name changed) was approached by the accused on Wednesday afternoon. He took her phone number and assured her to help her in filling the widow pension form. He promised that he would call her again.
“An hour later the accused picked up Ramilaben from her residence and took her behind the Botad Collector office which is a deserted spot. First, he snatched her ornaments and then raped her.”
He threatened Ramilaben that if she informed anyone about the incident, he would kill her and harm her family members.
The accused gave her Rs 100 to return home and then fled away, the victim stated in her complaint.
She told the police that she had never met the accused before and did not know him by name. She also could not recollect the bike registration number or its colour and said that his age could be around 30, the police said. All that the police could find was the phone number from which he had called the victim.
Police department put the number under surveillance and within 24 hours on Thursday late evening arrested Devipujak on Friday morning. The accused was then sent for medical examination.