Bhavani Srinivasan & Mateen Hafeez TNN
Mumbai: The police, probing the sexual assault of a 19-yearold Brazilian girl by a Cuffe Parade resident, Padmakar Nandekar (52), will take the accused to Kerala to corroborate the victim’s claim that the accused had booked a single room for both and had forced her to spend a night with him. He was produced before a court on Sunday and remanded in police custody till May 29.
Ashok Saraogi, Nandekar’s defence lawyer, said,
“We have CCTV footage of my client’s residence, which will prove what
exactly happened that night.” He said, “My client had given his credit
card to the girl to use for emergencies. On the day after the incident,
she spent Rs 1 lakh using his card. I will prove that my client is
innocent. He has a high rank at the Rotary Club and is also general
secretary of Cuffe Parade Residents’ Association. It is due to dirty
internal politics in these organizations that my client has been
implicated.” He said students on exchange programmes get around Rs 6,000
per month for expenses, but Nandekar gave Rs 10,000 to help the girl.
The residents’ association has removed Nandekar from his post after the case came to light.
In her complaint, the girl told police that on
April 15, Nandekar invited her for dinner. He took her to a five star
hotel where he spiked her drinks after dinner and they returend to his
Cuffe Parade residence where Nandekar allegedly raped her. Following her
complaint, the police arrested Nandekar.
A Rotary spokesperson said a similar incident had
occurred in Japan a few years ago. “Nandedkar was on the way to Korea
for a Rotary convention and on the way, he spent a few days in Japan.
There, he allegedly invited a Japanese woman to a hotel, where he spiked
her drink. When he returned to Japan after the convention, the woman
filed a complaint and he was jailed," said the spokesperson. “It was due
to Nandedkar’s contacts at the Japanese consulate that he was released
from jail.”
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