Raped and filmed, woman ends life in Mumbai

A 28-year-old housewife killed herself after she was allegedly assaulted, stripped and raped by an acquaintance, who even made a video of her in that condition, in the presence of her seven-year-old daughter.
According to the police, the crime took place on February 27 at the victim's home near Sahar Village.
The shocking part of the crime was that the main suspect's wife, mother, sister and a friend went to the victim's house the very next day. They showed her the video and threatened her with dire consequences if she complained about it. The police have arrested all five.
"The suspect was an old acquaintance of the victim. On that day, he barged into her house and tried to force himself on her," said Inspector Mohan Waghmare, who is also the investigating officer of the case.
When the victim resisted, suspect Eknath Ratan Nikam (32) allegedly assaulted her, stripped her and sexually abused her. "He even filmed the act on his mobile phone," Waghmare said.
The police said all this took place in the presence of the victim's daughter. "We plan to speak to the child because she is the sole eyewitness of the incident. However, currently, she is not in a state to talk about it," said another police officer, who is part of the investigation.
Next day, Nikam's wife, Radha (30), learnt about the attack. Fearing that the woman will file a complaint against her husband, she thought of intimidating the victim, the police said.
"So Radha, along with Nikam's mother, sister and a friend went to the victim's place and threatened her," Waghmare said. They even showed her the video and threatened her that it would be circulated in the neighbourhood if she went to the police.
"Unable to bear the stress, the woman committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan in the early hours of March 1," Waghmare said.
The victim's husband, who works on night-shift in a courier company, was not at home on both occasions – assault by Nikam and threat by Radha. He was also out for work when the victim committed suicide.
"When the man came home from work on March 1, he saw his wife hanging. He took her to a hospital and informed the police," Waghmare said.
It is yet not clear if the victim had told her husband about the incident on the first day when he came back from work. "We are verifying that," said an officer.
After preliminary investigations, the police arrested all the five suspects, including Nikam, his wife Radha, mother Mira (50), while the friend who has been identified as Sujal, and the sister. They are all residents of the same locality.
"The suspects have been arrested under charges of rape, abetment of suicide, extortion, assault, trespassing, wrongful restraint and various sections of the Information Technology Act," Waghmare said.