Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh): A youth arrested on charges of theft in a Vande Bharat train, has been accused of sexually assaulting girls by posing himself as an Army officer with Hindu identity while hiding his religion.
Ahmedabad Police arrested Mohammad Shahbaz, a resident of Maulana Azad Nagar of Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh from Delhi on the basis of CCTV footage of a theft at Ahmedabad railway station on August 1.
When interrogated, he identified himself as Harshit Choudhury and claimed to be an Army major while showing some identity proofs including Aadhar card and an identity card of the Indian Army. Suspicious over his behaviour, police initiated an investigation and it was revealed that all the documents he had furnished were fake.
Soon after the case surfaced, a girl from Chaibasa in Jharkhand approached police against Shahbaz and a case was filed at Banna Devi police station. She alleged that Shahbaz had befriended her by introducing himself as Harshit and married her by concealing his religion. After which, he had also sexually exploited her, she complained.
Investigations have revealed that Shahbaz had made his PAN card, Aadhar card and Army I-card from a computer centre in Aligarh. A bank account was also opened in his fake identity. Police found photographs and contact numbers of several girls in his mobile. It is suspected that he had trapped two dozen girls in three years, police said.
The girl, who complained against Shahbaz, told police that she had met him online and they got married in a temple in Aligarh on March 5, 2023. She said that he kept her in a rented house in Lohia Nagar in Banna Devi area and stayed away from home saying he was busy with work.
However, whenever he came home he would assault and abuse her. She complained that he forced her to have sex with him and threatened to chop her to pieces if she resisted. She said that after learning about his arrest from Ahmedabad Police on September 6, she filed a case against him.
The girl further alleged that she had come to know that Shahbaz alias Harshit was already married with two children. He had been dismissed from Army, where he was recruited as a jawan.
According to the police, even before his dismissal from Army, Shahbaz used to trap girls by showing fake ID cards. He used to take the girls into confidence by posing himself to be an Army major, they said.
Banna Devi police station in-charge Pankaj Mishra said process is on to bring Shahbaz to Aligarh from Gujarat. After recording the girl's statement, she has been handed over to her family members, Mishra said.
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