Mid-Day
Mumbai, Jan 1: A 27-year-old South African woman was allegedly abducted from a suburban hotel and raped on Wednesday.
The victim, Tracy Donald (name changed), also alleged that the rapists drugged her before committing the crime.
Preliminary investigations by the Vile Parle police revealed that Tracy, daughter of a South African business tycoon, had been in India since September 2005 and was staying at an apartment in Lokhandwala in Andheri (W).
In her complaint, Tracy told the police that she was in Mumbai to try out a career in Bollywood.
She had joined a dancing school in Andheri and is believed to have developed quite a few contacts in the film industry, the police said.
How it happened
According to police, Tracy said in her complaint that a fortnight ago she visited JW Marriott, where she came in contact with the owner of Hotel Bawa International, who invited her to dinner at his hotel.
On Wednesday night, when Tracy visited the hotel, she met two men, with whom she shared drinks till late at night. She went to the toilet around 1 am.
Dragged into car
Soon after, she began to feel drowsy and was dragged into a red car in a semi-conscious condition.
The men allegedly took her to an isolated location where they repeatedly raped her. At 6 am on Thursday, one of them dropped Tracy at her Lokhandwala residence, the police said.
When she regained consciousness later in the day, she realised what had happened and told her friend about the incident, who approached a lady lawyer. They then lodged a complaint with the police.
A case of kidnapping and rape has been registered at Vile Parle police station.
Test confirms rape
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 8) Sashikant Shinde said, “We have received some leads into the case and the accused will be nabbed soon.” He added that the medical tests on the woman had confirmed rape.
Clarence Pereira, the lobby manager of Bawa International, said that he was unaware of any such incident.