Mumbai, Oct 17 (IANS) A doctor from Malvani in Mumbai’s Malad west has been booked in an alleged case of rape – the fourth such case in three weeks, police said.
The accused in the ‘serial rapes’ is Dr. Yogesh Bhanushali who was arrested after two previous cases were lodged against him for the offence on September 27 and October 3, and the third case on October 15.
He was booked in another case here on October 16 after a victim saw the news reports and social media posts on him in the past few days, and gathered courage to file a police complaint about her exploitation at his hands.
Malvani Police Station Senior Inspector of Police Chimaji Adhav said that the accused is currently in judicial custody in the earlier two cases which will end on Wednesday (October 18), and he will be arrested in the other two new cases now.
The medico followed a modus operandi of luring women into relationship with marriage promises through social media, and then inviting them to his home to meet the other family members who lived a lavish lifestyle.
Later, he would allegedly take her to his private room upstairs and then convince the woman to change hairstyle and clothes to go to a pub, force himself on her, and even cajole them into getting tattoos in private parts.
He would continue the relationship for sometime, extract money and jewellery from her under threats of making her intimate pictures viral, dump her, and go after the next victim.
When one of the victims lodged a police complaint, her family came to his rescue and threatened her to withdraw the cases, and he has reportedly extorted over Rs 5-lakh from one victim so far. Among his victims are a nurse, a call centre employee who were lured, sexually assaulted and cheated of money on various occasions.
The accused was also booked by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Nagar Police Station, Govandi under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2020, when he had misbehaved in a Covid-19 centre with a patient, said Adhav.
With a total of five cases already registered, the Mumbai Police believe that there could be many more victims who would gradually come out openly against him. Meanwhile, the victims’ lawyers are clamouring for a probe into his medical degrees and other details of his family members and their possible complicity into his alleged nefarious activities of trapping women on social media.
–IANS
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