Mumbai: Aman Shahaye had come to the city from UP with dazzling dreams in his eyes. What the 24-year-old got instead was a living nightmare. The software engineer and small-time model was allegedly drugged, held hostage and robbed of his valuables by four women in Goregaon.
Aman arrived in Mumbai on March 17 and was staying at a hotel. He met one of the girls identified as Shabnam, at a modelling audition. Being new to the city, he inquired with her whether she could suggest a place for him to stay. Shabnam agreed to let him lodge with her and her three girlfriends at their MHADA flat in Goregaon.
On March 25, Aman went to the flat after completing a modelling assignment in Lokhandwala. Shabnam allegedly offered him a soft drink laced with sedatives. The women then thrashed Aman, and stole his laptop and other valuables. They also withdrew Rs 60,000 from his bank account using a credit card.
While he was being robbed, Aman's uncle, Pradeep Kumar called on his cellphone from UP and found him responding drowsily. Thinking he had dialled a wrong number, he phoned his nephew again. This time, the mobile was switched off.
Worried, the uncle flew to Mumbai on Tuesday. According to cops, he then wrote a letter to Oshiwara police, begging them to investigate the whereabouts of his nephew. Meanwhile, Shabnam called up Pradeep on his cellphone saying she was coming to him with his nephew.
"She made us wait for more than six hours. Shabnam gave us different locations from time to time, claiming she was on her way to the police station along with my nephew," Pradeep said.
Meanwhile, that very night in Goregaon, local residents found an unconscious Aman lying on the roadside, not far from where he lived. At a distance from him was a large bag, containing his clothes. Thinking the bag might contain a bomb, bystanders called the police emergency number, and a bomb squad was dispatched to the location. Mistaking Aman for a drunk, cops and some local residents escorted him to Goregaon police station. One of the residents, a youth, recognised Aman, having seen him in the area.
After speaking to Aman, he obtained his uncle's number and helped him find some relatives living in Parksite, Ghatkopar. On reaching there, Aman's kin suspected the youth of having robbed him, and thrashed the 'Samaritan'.
This was not the end of the dilemma for Aman and his uncle. Though the victim was still intoxicated, instead of taking serious note of the incident, cops allegedly sent the duo from one police station to another yesterday to register their complaint.
Pradeep and Aman first visited Oshiwara police station, where the officers told them that since the victim was found in the jurisdiction of Goregaon, they should register a complaint there. When the two approached Goregaon police station, the officers declared Aman a drunkard and asked the duo to leave after merely registering a note in the diary. They finally recorded a statement late last night.
When cops reached the Goregaon flat to investigate, the girls were nowhere to be found. "I have no knowledge of the matter at the moment. Under the circumstances an FIR should be registered. In case that doesn't happen, I'll personally do the needful on Thursday," said Senior PI Arun Jadhav from Goregaon police station.
A local resident said that the girls had used a similar modus operandi with other youths who had just arrived in the city and had even made videos of some of them in compromising positions.
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