A 32-year-old married woman was allegedly gang-raped by three men after mistakenly knocking on the wrong hotel room door near the railway station area of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar in Maharashtra, police said. The incident occurred between late Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday.
According to police, the woman, a nurse at a private hospital and the primary earner of her family, had gone to the hotel to collect money from a friend due to financial difficulties. Her friend, a resident of Bhokardan, had asked her to meet him at the hotel and had booked room number 105.
Police said the woman met her friend at the hotel on Wednesday evening. After spending some time together and having dinner, she stepped out of the room around 11 pm while speaking on the phone. On returning, she accidentally went to the second floor instead of the first and knocked on room number 205, believing it to be her friend’s room.
Inside the room were three men who were consuming alcohol. When the woman asked for her friend, the men told her he was not present. As she turned to leave, one of the accused allegedly claimed her friend was inside and forcibly pulled her into the room. The door was then locked from inside, police said.
The accused allegedly forced the woman to consume alcohol and sexually assaulted her one after another through the night. She was confined in the room for several hours and managed to escape between 3 am and 4 am, after which she ran out and sought help.
The woman approached the Vedant Nagar Police Station and lodged a complaint. By then, the accused had fled the hotel and switched off their mobile phones. Assistant Police Commissioner Sagar Deshmukh reached the police station, and a special team led by Police Inspector Pravina Yadav and Sub-Inspector Sangeeta Giri was formed to investigate the case.
Police examined CCTV footage, hotel records and booking details, which led to the identification of the suspects. All three were arrested within three hours from different areas, including Jinsi, Mondha and Bhanudas Nagar.
The accused have been identified as Ghanshyam Bhaulaal Rathod (27), Rishikesh Tulsiram Chavan (25) and Kiran Laxman Rathod (25), all residents of the Jawahar Colony area. Police said two of them work with a finance company involved in loan recovery, while the third is engaged in private work and continuing his education. All three are reportedly friends and unmarried.
A case has been registered based on the woman’s statement, and further investigation is underway. Medical examination and other legal procedures are being carried out. The incident has sparked concern over women’s safety, particularly in public accommodations such as hotels.
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