Gujarat: A 37-year-old Muslim man has been arrested by Navsari police in Gujarat for allegedly raping and blackmailing a girl for nearly five years, an official said on Wednesday.
Asim Nizam Shaikh, the accused, was arrested on Tuesday from Vasai near Mumbai "in a case of love jihad", police said in a statement here. Shaikh allegedly raped the girl for the first time five years ago when she was 16, and recorded a video which he used to blackmail her, police said. "Love jihad" is a term used by right-wing activists to refer to an alleged conspiracy to convert Hindu girls to Islam by marrying them.
To save himself from getting caught, Shaikh, who is married and has children, forced the victim to marry his accomplice, Ronak Patel, police said.
Patel, who was behind bars in a case of murder, came out on parole recently and was yet to be apprehended.
On the victim's complaint, a First Information Report was registered against the duo under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, sections 376(2)(n) and 506(2) of the Indian Penal Code which deals with rape and criminal intimidation, and the Information Technology Act at Khergam police station on June 23.