Delhi: Two dhaba owners arrested for raping Mumbai-based event manager

In a horrific incident, a Mumbai-based event manager was allegedly raped by two dhaba owners at a five-star hotel in the national capital Delhi. The incident reportedly took place on Friday at a hotel in Aerocity and was investigated after the woman made a PCR call.

The Delhi police, however, acted swiftly and arrested the Haryana-based dhaba owners on Saturday, November 21. The two arrested have been identified as Sandeep Mehta, 57, and Naveen Dawar, 47 and are residents of Lajpat Nagar and Saket, respectively. They operate a restaurant near Sonipat in Haryana.

"The woman told that she met Mehta on social media. She came to Delhi on Wednesday and was staying at a hotel in Aerocity. The next day, she met Mehta and his friend Dawar at Connaught Place," said the police in a media interaction.

The woman has alleged that Dawar tried to molest her and later, Mehta, who came to drop her at the hotel, raped her inside the room. Mehta then took her to Anand Vihar and dropped her there, and fled.

"Mehta took her from the hotel and fled after dropping her at Anand Vihar," the police said.

Meanwhile, the arrested dhaba owners have been remanded to judicial custody. Mehta has been reportedly arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376 (rape) while IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) has been slapped against Dawar.

According to a news report, over six women are raped every day in the national capital and about 98 per cent of the rape accused are either close relatives or acquaintances.