BHOPAL/JABALPUR: A 30-year-old woman was raped in a
moving train
in Madhya Pradesh’s
Satna
district on Sunday night, but she kept fighting and managed to escape, half-clad and bare feet, after the horrific ordeal.
The suspect, 22-year-old Kamlesh Kushwaha, locked himself up in an empty AC coach and was arrested by cops after a three-hour pursuit even as the
train
chugged on towards its destination.
The woman had boarded a passenger train at Katni railway station and was to travel till Unchehra in Satna district, Satna GRP police station in charge L P Kashyap told TOI.
“The passenger train halted at Pakaria railway station and a Rewa-bound special train that was running empty also stopped alongside. The survivor alighted from her train and went into the AC coach of the other train to use the washroom. Kamlesh Kushwaha, who was also in the passenger train, crept up behind her and locked the doors. When the special train started, he raped her between Pakaria and Maihar railway stations,” Kashyap said.
As per the FIR, the woman was raped three times during the 40km journey to Maihar. She has also said that when they were in the passenger train, the accused had tried to strike a conversation with her.
She said she didn’t realise that he had followed her into the special train. He hit her from behind, shoved her so hard that she fell on the floor and suffered a head injury, and then raped her repeatedly. When she resisted, he threatened to kill her.
When the train halted at Satna, around 40km after Maihar, the woman pleaded that she was thirsty. As soon as the accused stepped off on the platform to fetch water, she jumped off and began running, leaving her saree, sandals and bag behind. It was 8pm.
“She ran to an RPF constable at the Satna station, who immediately set off in pursuit. Seeing the accused go back to the special train, he also jumped aboard but the accused locked the AC coach from inside,” said Jabalpur RPF commandant Arun Tripathi.
“The train was stopped at Kaima railway station while our teams rushed there by road. But the lock of the AC coach could not be opened. The team stayed on the train, with the accused locked in. When the train reached Rewa railway station, a mechanical team pried open the door and GRP nabbed the accused around 11.30am. Had the RPF constable not boarded the train, the accused could have escaped,” said Tripathi.
Police said Kushwaha is a native of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh and had moved to Katni recently. He was brought to Satna around 4am and then sent to Katni where a case was registered against him.
