Gurgaon: A district court refused to grant bail to a man accused of raping a woman and forcing her to transfer Rs 15 lakh into his account. Gagandeep, originally from Punjab, forced the survivor to transfer money into his account over 71 times. The rape accused extorted the money by threatening to upload her objectionable videos and photos that were taken during the alleged assault.For three years, the accused had sexually assaulted the woman besides blackmailing her, according to the case diary. The woman went to Malaysia, but the exploitation and blackmail continued.A fake suicide bid forced her to return to India. On March 11, she lodged a complaint with the city police alleging rape, blackmail and extortion.The accused, in his 40s, was arrested from a hideout in a remote area of Jharkhand on April 20. The counsel for the complainant, Manish Shandilya, said, “If released on bail, he could pressure the witnesses.”Additional sessions judge Vinay Sharma said the allegations against the accused are very serious in nature. The court pointed out bank details in the form of evidence presented by the police show that on as many as 71 occasions, money transactions had been made by the survivor from her account to the account of the accused.The WhatsApp chats also substantiated that the accused forced her to transfer the money. It also showed that the accused took some objectionable photographs and videos of the survivor, the court said.“Considering the seriousness and gravity of the offence alleged to have been committed by the accused, prima facie no justifiable ground to extend the concession of bail is made out,” the court said, declining the bail petition.In her complaint, the survivor had alleged that in 2022, Gagandeep, who was a friend of her brother, met her, and they exchanged their mobile numbers. Soon, Gagandeep became friendly with her and started talking to her on the mobile phone on a regular basis.On June 2, 2022, the accused came to her house. When he learnt that her husband would come at 7pm, he allegedly brought two small soft drink bottles and gave one bottle laced with sedatives to her to drink. After sometime, as she started feeling dizzy, the accused allegedly assaulted her and fled.
