Ratnagiri, Aug 27 (IANS): At least five teams of the Ratnagiri Police have fanned out in different directions and adjoining districts searching for an absconder autorickshaw driver accused of raping a nursing student, an official said here on Tuesday.

The incident, which came to light on Monday when the 19-year-old nursing student informed her family, lodged a complaint with the Ratnagiri City Police Station.

The fugitive is wanted for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old student nurse who had hired his autorickshaw to go home after her classes.

En route, the autorickshaw driver offered her warm water purportedly spiked with some intoxicants which she drank and became unconscious.

Then he drove her off to a deserted spot and allegedly raped her before dumping her and fleeing from the spot.

“We have formed five police teams which are on the lookout for him and also scanning CCTV footage of the route from where the auto was hired,” the police station head Mahesh Toraskar told IANS.

The shocking incident sparked huge protests in Ratnagiri town and other parts of the district on Monday for several hours with traffic blockades, as angry students and nurses plus parents squatted on roads demanding the arrest of the culprit and the death sentence for him.

Toraskar said that on Tuesday, the situation remained calm and there were no untoward incidents reported from the coastal town.

This is another in a series of atrocities against women, besides girl students and even tiny-tots in nurseries, reported from different parts of Maharashtra in the past fortnight that resulted in massive police and public furore, including the heinous alleged rape of two nursery girls in Badlapur (Thane) town.

Under fire from the Opposition, the state government has initiated a series of precautionary measures and enforced measures like installing CCTV in all educational institutions, background checks of all staffers and prompt reporting of any such crimes, etc.