Armyman's wife raped by cabbie in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Four months after the Park Street rape case, a 26-year-old homemaker was kidnapped and raped in a moving car in the wee hours of Friday, triggering fears that the city may indeed be turning unsafe for women. However, unlike the Park Street case, police acted instantly on the woman's complaint and rounded up the suspect, Mumtaz Khan, 41, within hours.
Around 3.30am, policemen carrying out regular traffic checks on Sealdah flyover saw a woman staggering towards them.An ASI ran to meet her half-way and the traumatized woman collapsed, mumbling that she had been raped in a car and that the rapist had dropped her there barely minutes ago. The officer called his superiors and the duty officer of Entally quickly put together a team to look for the suspect.
The victim, the wife of an Armyman and a mother of two, told police that she was looking for a taxi at Exide crossing around 11pm when a Swift Dzire with commercial number plates (WB04F 2892) pulled up and the driver, Mumtaz Khan, offered to take her there for 25. Taxi refusals are common in the city even during the day, and the woman had waited long enough after visiting a relative at SSKM Hospital. She decided to take the ride because she wanted to catch the last local from Sealdah at 11.40pm.
The Barrackpore resident has little knowledge of the city and did not realise that Khan was taking her on a different route. She was puzzled when he halted near Calcutta National Medical College and asked a cabby friend, 20-year-old Habib Rahman, to climb in. "Mumtaz said he was feeling tired and asked me to drive to DLF building at Rajarhat," Habib told police. Mumtaz sat in front and the car headed towards EM Bypass. Habib claims he did not know the woman was being kidnapped.
The victim realized that it didn't take this long to reach Sealdah from Exide, a distance of barely 6km, and started to protest. "Mumtaz threatened her to keep quiet. The woman was terrified. With the AC on and the windows rolled up, there was little chance of anyone hearing her scream in the speeding car," said a sleuth.
A half hour later, at a dark and deserted place, Mumtaz asked Habib to stop the car. Police later took the victim on a crime reconstruction and identified the spot as near Tata Medical Center, some 25km from Exide crossing. The woman tried to escape but Mumtaz climbed into the back seat and overpowered her. Habib tried to stop him but Mumtaz brushed him aside and raped her. He also snatched her money, a gold chain and gold bangles."She was raped inside the car after which Mumtaz asked Habib to drive back to Park Circus," said an investigator. Habib was at the wheel when she was dumped on the Beliaghata overbridge and then drove back to CNMC where he got off. Mumtaz drove the Swift to his home in Gobra Road, Topsia.