MUMBAI: The Shivaji Nagar police, probing the gangrape of a 20-year-old woman in Govandi, arrested the fourth accused, a 19-year-old, from Panvel where he was hiding near his father's workplace and preparing to flee the state to avoid arrest.
Three persons, two of them minors, were arrested on Saturday.
The woman, working for a catering firm, was raped by four men in Govandi's Shivaji Nagar area when she was returning home around 4am on Friday, said a police officer, requesting anonymity.
Police said the four accused spotted the woman near the old BEST depot and one of the men, who knew her, questioned her about returning home late. He told her he wanted to talk to her and took her to an empty house's mezzanine floor. His friends followed them and they took turns to rape her before fleeing. Police said that when the woman tried to scream for help, the men gagged her.
The traumatised girl called the police over the phone and lodged a complaint. Police sent the woman to Rajawadi Hospital for medical examination and formed teams to nab the accused.
Detection officer Dhanajay Deodikar and officers Navnath Kale, Dnyaneshwar Patil and sub-inspector Bansode arrested a 20-year-old tempo driver and a minor from Dongri, and another minor from Shivaji Nagar.
On learning that the fourth accused was hiding near his father's workplace in Panvel, a team reached there and arrested him on Sunday. "He went to Panvel thinking he would get shelter and flee to another state to avoid arrest," said the police officer.
The two minors have been sent to Dongri children's remand home, and the other two accused have been remanded in police custody till January 28.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
