A 59-year-old man was arrested on Sunday on charges of raping a 21-year-old woman by making false promises of getting her a job.
Police identified the accused as Kirti Mehta, a resident of Elgin Road who runs a business of surgical equipment in central Calcutta.
“According to the complaint lodged by the victim, she was promised a job for which she was asked to meet the accused at a hotel in the Bhowanipore area. She has reported that she was raped in the hotel room and threatened with dire consequences if she dared to protest,” said an officer of Bhowanipore police station.
The alleged incident happened on the evening of March 7 and was reported to the police on March 9.
The police said that after receiving the complaint, they started probing the allegations and found preliminary evidence to book the accused.
The cops said they would collect electronic evidence and record the statements of witnesses who saw the accused and the victim in the hotel.
A police officer said the mobile phone tower location of the accused and the victim would also prove if they were together at the time of the alleged incident as was reported by the victim.
“Apart from the electronic evidence, the statement of the woman and her medical reports will also be very important as evidence in the probe,” said the officer.
Such crimes where young women in need of money or a job fall prey to false promises and end up meeting strangers in hotels or secluded places are very common. They do not realise what danger they inflict upon themselves.
“We would always advise that in such situations, a woman should either visit the stranger in a public place or if the meeting is to be held at a private location, a family member or a friend should accompany her,” said a senior police officer not attached to this case.