A car purchased by a rape accused was attached and auctioned by police for ₹11.3 lakh to compensate the amount that he allegedly extorted from the victim, Gurugram police said on Tuesday.
Investigators said Section 107 (attachment, forfeiture or restoration of property suspected to be proceeds of crime) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was invoked in the case for the first time in the country to compensate a victim.
Police said the 34-year-old victim, working at a multinational firm, had alleged that the man, from Rajasthan’s Jaipur, had raped her last year on the pretext marriage and shared her compromising photographs with his friends.
He also took ₹24 lakh and gold jewellery from her, claiming he needed it to start a business, but, instead, he used it to purchase a car in his mother’s name and repay a loan taken by his younger brother. The victim alleged the accused gave the jewellery to his mother.
On her complaint, an FIR was registered against him under sections 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means), 77 (voyeurism), 308(2) (extortion) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act at Sector-10 police station on January 2.
Police said the accused, a photographer by profession, was arrested on January 4 and is still in judicial custody.
Inspector Kuldeep Singh, station house officer of Sector-10 police station, said that on January 11, police moved the court seeking to attach the car as the proceeds of crime.
“The order approving the attachment of the car, a Volkswagen Virtus, was passed on January 21,” he said.
Police then fixed a base price for the vehicle based on a quote from the transport department and handed the ₹11.30 lakh over to the victim on Friday after auctioning the car through eAuction India, a central government portal, on February 25.
