Maha: Man rapes teenage girl after attacking her with hammer, arrested

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped and assaulted with a hammer by a man close to the railway station in Ulhasnagar town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Friday night and the accused, identified as Shrikant Gaikwad (30), a labourer, was arrested a day later, a railway police official said.

"The girl was walking on a skywalk at the Ulhasnagar railway station on her way home from Shirdi, along with her two friends, when Gaikwad suddenly came there and forcibly removed her scarf. Later, he attacked her on her head with a hammer. He also threatened that he would harm her friends if they came to her rescue," he said.

The accused then forcibly took her to a shanty near the railway station and raped her. When the victim tried to flee from the spot later, he caught hold of her and beat her up. The girl escaped on Saturday morning when he was not present there and later reached her residence, the police official added.

Later, her family members lodged a complaint at the Kalyan railway police station, the official said.

A special team was formed and based on a tip-off, Gaikwad was arrested from Shri Ram chowk area in Ulhasnagar on Saturday night. He was booked on the charges of rape, kidnapping and others and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

DCP M M Makandaar of GRP said the accused was produced before a local court, which remanded him in police custody till Tuesday.

According to police, the victim received injuries on her head and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ulhasnagar.

On Friday, a 34-year-old woman was also raped and brutalised with a rod by a man inside a stationary tempo in Sakinaka area of neighbouring Mumbai, police earlier said.

She died at a hospital during treatment in the early hours of Saturday. The suspect was arrested within a few hours of the incident, they added.