Man sentenced to life in Hyderabad pharma student rape case

Hyderabad: The sensational kidnap and rape of a pharmacy student at Hayathnagar in July 2019 ended in the conviction of the accused on 19 March. A city court sentenced Aithem Ravi Shekar from Andhra Pradesh to imprisonment for life and also imposed on a fine of Rs. 90,000.

Ravi Shekar had approached the victim’s father, who runs a hotel, posing as a doctor. He told him his parents were judges and he had contacts with influential people in the city. The accused promised to get a job for the victim. Believing him, the victim went with him in his car. However, the man abducted her and took her to Andhra Pradesh. For a week they travelled to different places in AP and during the period he sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.

A week later, he abandoned her at Addanki bus station in Prakasam district. She took a bus from there and travelled to Hyderabad. Two days later Ravi Shekar was arrested. Inquiries revealed that the man had posed as a vigilance officer and an Income Tax official and was involved in various extortion cases where he trapped women under the pretext of giving them jobs. Since 2001, he was involved in as many as 38 cases of cheating with false promises to provide jobs posing as a government official, thefts, extortions in AP, Telangana, and Karnataka. On one occasion, he escaped from police custody in Visakhapatnam. After his escape, he was involved in five different cases.

After his arrest, he was also detained under the PD Act. Meanwhile, the rape and kidnap case went to trial and the court delivered the verdict on Thursday. During the trial, the court examined 27 witnesses